The Mantle Beyond The Eons
by SuperW1998
Summary: After 100,000 years of Atonement, the Forerunners arrived at the Mass Effect Galaxy. In the hands of the Iso-Didact is the fate of his people or this new galaxy. For the Mantle of Responsibility shelters all. Set in Pre-Mass Effect 3. First time Fanfiction thus Feedback will be noted and appreciated.
1. The Beginning

The Background

Ten Million Years Ago, the Precursors created the two dominant species to uphold the Mantle of Responsibility. These two species were known as Forerunners and Humanity. However, when the Precursors decided that the Mantle of Responsibility belongs to Humanity, and Humanity alone, the Forerunners rose up against their creators and brutally eliminated the Precursors.

At 110,000 BCE, or roughly 9,890,000 years after the Forerunner-Precursors War, The Forerunners rose as the dominant specie in the whole Milky Way Galaxy. Standing defiant against the powerful Forerunners were Humanity and San 'Shyuum. Around the same time, Humanity and San 'Shyuum discovered the Flood. The Flood is a parasitic being that consumed all biological creatures. Horrified by the flood, Humanity and her San 'Shyuum allies waged war against the Flood. In the desperate attempt to recover their loss and prevent the spread of The Flood, Humanity invaded Forerunner territory.

At 110,000 BCE, the Forerunner-Human war officially started. With Humanity fighting a two front war against the Flood and the Forerunners, Humanity's military forces were on the brink of total annihilation. However, in the time of Crisis, Humanity was able to create a solution against the flood. Manipulating the genes of one third of Humanity's population, that when consumed by the flood, will cause the Flood to destroy itself. The solution was deemed effective, as Human reclaimed worlds after worlds. With the threat of the Flood gone, Humanity's military under the leadership of Forthencho fought a losing war against the superior Forerunner military under the command of the Didact.

At 109,000 BCE, the remaining human forces were crushed by the Didact in the final battle of Charum Hakkor. The Forerunners devolved Humanity to many different primitive species in the name that Humanity violated the Mantle. The Forerunners would compose many humans to index their genetic memory, in the hope of finding the solution that destroyed the flood. Forerunner dominance in the galaxy would spann for another tens of thousands of years.

100,300 BCE, the Flood returned back to the galaxy. The Forerunners, weakened by the previous conflict and its own internal political struggle, were unable to put up a successful defense against the Flood. The Flood devoured everything it touched, and the Forerunner retreated steadily. In the ongoing war against the Flood, the Forerunners were able to learn the horrible truth: The Precursors were the Flood. In a final desperate attempt, the Forerunners activated the Halo Installations, cleansing the galaxy of life, and then reseeded all life in the galaxy. However, the Forerunner-Flood War achieved the purpose of the Precursors: to shatter the Forerunner confidence in their belief of the mantle. The Forerunners lost their confidence in their own mantle of responsibility, and embarked humanity as the sole reclaimer of the mantle as it was intended by the Precursors. The Forerunners left the galaxy in the hope of restarting their way of life, an atonement to the sins they caused during the time of their dominance.

However, unknowingly in another Milky Way Galaxy, there was another Humanity on the rise. The Precursors, after being chased and almost wiped out by the Forerunners, debated their course of actions. The majority of the Precursors argued to seek revenge against the Forerunners, and they are turned into the flood. The remaining Precursors decided to abandon the Milky Way galaxy and restart what they have done. The Precursors created a race called the Leviathan in a whole new Milky Way Galaxy, but just like the last time, the created revolted against the creator. The Leviathan rebelled against the Precursors, and the Precursors fled the new galaxy to stop further bloodshed. Yet, before the Precursors left the galaxy, they implant the seed that will eventually cause the rise of Humanity.

The Leviathan became the dominant species in the new galaxy, but it faced a problem: the balance of organics and synthetics. In the hope of creating a solution, the Leviathan created a semi organic synthetic race known only as the Reapers. The Reapers are all under the command of the AI named as the Catalyst. The Catalyst came to the conclusion that organics are naturally violent, and that the conflict between synthetics and organics always escalate in size. To ensure the overall safety of the galaxy, the Reapers thought to destroy every advanced organic species. Hence starts the Reapers, starting with the Leviathans. To ensure the success of the cycle, the Reapers build the system of the mass relays as way to stagnate each species from achieving high end technological advancements. The plan proved to be a success, and many species were harvested by the ruthless Reapers.

To Modern Day in the Mass Effect universe, the harvest of the organics have begun already. One by one the worlds of Organics were consumed and harvested. However, different from each previous cycle, this cycle has one exemplar that stands in defiance against the Reapers. His name is known as John Shepard. This is the story of the fate of the New Milky Way Galaxy.

* * *

Forerunners

The Iso-Didact sat quietly in the bridge of his flagship, Guilt of Consequences. It's been over 100,000 years since he activated the halo arrays, and he still debates whether or not there was ever a better solution. If only the Ecume followed the advices of the Ur-Didact before the flood went out of control, then the face of the galaxy would be completely different. After the activation of the halos, the Forerunners fled the Milky Way Galaxy and traveled through intergalactic space for almost 100,000 years. 100,000 years of atonement, 100,000 years of forgiveness for the damage that the Forerunner has caused to the Galaxy, and 100,000 years to relearn the fundamentals of the Mantle.

"Offensive Bias." The Didact's armor ancilla calls to the second in command of the remaining Forerunner Fleet.

"Didact, long range scanner shows something quite unusual."

"Show me."

Offensive Bias suddenly appears in a hologram before the Didact.

"Didact, long range scanner has shown another galaxy that is in the exact same quality as our Milky Way galaxy."

"That seems unlikely, scan again"

"Already done, after 100 different scans my previous statement remains valid."

"That cannot be possible."

"Didact, rough scans indicate the level of Hydrogen and Helium in this galaxy is 97.5 percent match. Long range scanner detects similar amount of stars and planets to Milky Way Galaxy.".

Iso-Didact sat in silence, but in reality his ancilla is currently communicating with the Life Shaper of the remaining Forerunner fleet, Chant to Green.

"Didact, for what pleasure do I owe you?"

"You already know what is ahead, perhaps you can share me your thoughts?"

"There are billions of galaxy in this universe, a galaxy that is similar to ours should not be uncommon."

"You are correct, but this one is an exact copy."

"That can be troubling, and what are you trying to suggest?"

"Precursors." This word weighs heavily in the mouth of the Didact.

"You lack evidence."

"It's a hypothesis."

"You should inform the council."

"Indeed, they will be interested indeed." And thus, the Iso-Didact rises from his seat and activated a slipspace portal, instantly teleporting him to the outside of the council chambers.

"The Ecume Council is now in session under the call from the Iso-Didact. Didact you are now recognized."

"Councillors, our faithful ancilla Offensive Bias has just informed me of another galaxy ahead of our path. This galaxy is a similar copy of our Milky Way Galaxy, and thus I believe that it must be the meddling of the Precursors."

A great murmur begun among the different councillors.

"Didact… speak your point please."

"Councillors, we now face two choices, continue our exile in the intergalactic space, or find home in this galaxy, and warn other species incase flood ever touches this galaxy."

"Why should we meddle with this galaxy? The last time we meddled a galaxy had to suffer galactic wide genocide." The Master Builder known as Constructor of Stars raised against the Didact. Suddenly many councillors yelled "Aya!" to demonstrate their support in the Master Builder's views.

"The Council will let the Didact to finish his speech. Master Builder this will be your final warning."

"Councillors, we shall act not as the caretakers of the galaxy, but as a co-existing member of this Galaxy. Our knowledge of the flood can help any species from making the mistakes we made. This is a much better redemption for the lives that we have took than our continuous exile. We are not…"

"Council, urgent issue ahead." The baritone voice of Offensive Bias suddenly roamed inside the Council Chambers.

"Offensive Bias, you've just interrupted a council session, please tell us that there is something important or I will personally deactivate you." Shouted by the Master Juridical Eternal Unify of Justice.

"Councillors, long range scanners detected millions of unknown vessel. They are giving off unusual gravitational readings and they are currently only ten light year away from our position."

"Offensive Bias, have you contact them yet?"

"No Iso-Didact."

The Iso-Didact clears his throat. "Ecume Councillors, we are currently dealing with a first contact situation, I believe it is best that we communicate with this newfound race."

"Aya!" As the Council roared, indicating their support to the Didact's words.

"Councillors, as a matter of caution, I suggest we have the civilian ships take cover behind our naval vessels."

"Aya!" Again the Council roar in approval.

As the Iso-Didact assumes his power as the supreme commander of the Forerunner military, "Offensive Bias, contact with the unknowns now."

"As you wish Didact."

…

"Didact, communication is cleared"

"Greetings, I am Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, leader of the Forerunners. We are here in a first contact situation, and I hope we come to a peaceful resolution."

Suddenly a deep voice shuttered in the broadcast system of the Council Chambers.

"Organics… The chaos of this galaxy. For I am Harbinger, and I am the force of your destruction. We will harvest again to bring order to the galaxy. Know your doom is coming, for the Reapers are here."

The Council Chamber is filled with silence, except the communication static.

* * *

Alliance

Admiral Hackett looks out the window of his flagship, the SSV Kilimanjaro. The SSV Kilimanjaro is the most sophisticated naval vessel ever created by the System Alliance navy, with a total of 156 broadside mass accelerator cannons each capable of launching a 20 kilogram slug to 1.3 percent of speed of light. If there is something call overpower firepower, then it would be the SSV Kilimanjaro.

"Admiral Hackett! Priority message from SSV Houston!" The Comm Officer suddenly shouted, breaking Hackett's thought on the dreadnought.

'SSV Houston? Wasn't that assigned to the outer rim to detect and monitor Batarian movements?' Hackett's mind suddenly race to a conclusion: The Batarians will attack the System Alliance.

"Patch the Houston through!"

"Yes sir"

"SSV Houston, this is Admiral Hackett of SSV Kilimanjaro, what is this priority message you are sending to us?"

"Sir, it's… It's the REAPERS sir!"

"Repeat Houston are you affirmative?"

"100 percent sir, the whole Batarian forces are being decimated by the Reaper forces. Shit… They've found us… Admiral the Reapers are here! I repeat th-..."

The Static puts a heavy air in the bridge of SSV Kilimanjaro.

"Someone patch me to Admiral Anderson."

"Yes sir."

"Admiral Hackett, I was just about to contact you."

"Anderson, we have a problem."

"Is it the Reapers? We've lost contact with a lot of our deep space probes… and all of our communication systems with Arcturus Station have been unsuccessful."

"Holy shit.. Shepard is right."

"I will go alert the Board of Council, and sir, permission to get Shepard out of that goddamn cage."

"Granted Anderson, I will mobilize the fleets. Hackett out."

'Shit.. if the Reapers nailed Arcturus Station then Earth is more or less doomed.' Hackett just can't imagine what state the System Alliance is in. It took the whole Alliance fleet to take out one Reaper Capital ship, and that is with over 30 percent casualties. 'If only the politicians listened to Shepherd's warning and actually contributed to the build up effort.'

"Sir! News from SSV Sevastopol!"

"Patch it through!"

"Sir yes sir."

Hackett can almost guess that is must be the news of the Reapers. However, Hackett grows a bit uneasy. The Sevastopol is a frigate that is sent to recover a malfunctioning probe in the region of intergalactic space. It is the back door of the System Alliance… Unless...

"SSV Kilimanjaro do you read?" A deep Scottish accent chant in the broadcast system.

"SSV Sevastopol this is Admiral Hackett of SSV Kilimanjaro all copy."

"Sir, we've just sighted some derelict Reapers sir… no, change that to hundreds."

"Derelict Reapers… are they recent?"

"That's the issue sir, these Reapers appear to be destroyed a few moment before. But what is more amazing sir, is that some Reapers are all sliced clean half, and the rest all have some kind of direct penetration of its hull."

"What…"

"Sir, some of the Reapers are still burning… and we detected one ship remaining that's not a Reaper. It doesn't match to any profile of the Alliance Database, sir."

"Have you contact it yet Commander?"

"Yes sir, but it seemed to have failed… wait… hold a second, sir we just received a package!"

"Open it now Commander."

"Sir… it's a message form that ship… it's in Perfect English!"

"Humans, we are Forerunners, and my name is Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, commander of the Forerunner military. It seems that this galaxy faces with the threat of this Reaper, and so do we. I hope that we can come together as allies during the time of crisis."

"Holy shit… sir this is a first contact scenario. Sir what should I do?" The Commander of the Sevastopol is now trembling is both fear and excitement.

"Commander, you orders are to contact them in the best bloody manner, and make sure we gain their support for our war against the Reapers."

"Sir yes sir, it will be done."

"Good, Hackett out."


	2. Forerunner Encounter

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your feedback and all of your reviews are really helpful. Please feel free to point out any plot inconsistency or plot holes. Major grammar issues will also be noted.

Now I have a request for all of your readers: I am not a native speaker of English, thus I often suffer from grammatical issues. If anyone here is an expert in English also willing to proof read every of my chapter, then that will be greatly appreciated. Message me if you want to be my proof reader. :)

* * *

Forerunner Naval Assets

Fortress Class: 100 KM Forerunner warship. Capable of obliterating entire planets and launching multiple attack ships of various class.

Dreadnought: 10 KM Forerunner warship. Backbone of Forerunner military in space.

Harrier Class: Fast Attack Forerunner warship. They are relative small in Forerunner standards but maintains a cruiser standard in Citadel standards.

Carriers: Forerunner Warships that are capable of launching 700 fighters.

* * *

Encounter

"Offensive Bias, I want you to triangulate this so called Harbinger now." The Didact demanded.

"... It is done. Triangulation complete and we have located Harbinger now. It is currently 1 light year away from our position."

"Very well, Council of Ecumene, this so called Harbinger has just declared hostility upon us. For the safety of the Forerunners, I request immediate Emergency powers to be granted upon me."

"Perhaps we can still utilize diplomatic resolutions… this doesn't have to end in bloodshed." The Life Workers are known to be more prone for peace and diplomacy. Being the head of the Lifeshapers, Chant to Green is always on the forefront to argue for a peaceful contact with other species. However, the Lifeshaper status doesn't grant any protection from the Didact's reply.

"Can't you see Chant to Green? We are facing with a million different vessels with unknown power. They want to "Harvest" us. We don't have time for any diplomatic solutions. For I am the commander of the Warrior-Servant, and the survival of the Forerunners is our primary and only objective."

"Aya!" The Council burst in sounds to demonstrate their support for the Didact.

"The Council has made its decisions, for the survival of the Forerunners, the Ecumene Council grants the Didact of Emergency power to command all Forerunner vessels."

"Thank you Council, for now I request all of you to take shelter in your ships."

All the Council members then activated their silp space teleport system and teleported to their own respective ship.

"Offensive Bias I want all civilian ships cloak and disengage, have all Fortress class vessels cloak and form a shield around the civilian ships as well." The voice of the Didact echoed in the quiet Council Chambers. The voice of experience and knowledge commands the remaining Forerunner fleet.

"It will be done."

"Offensive Bias, have the Dreadnoughts get into Delta formation, and get all the Harriers to cloak and form a protective cover around the Dreadnoughts. Tell the Carries to cloak and stay behind the Dreadnoughts, and do not release the fighters yet."

"It is done Didact."

"Offensive Bias you will take control of the civilian and Fortress ships. If the enemy overwhelms us, then disengage and flee. This is your last command."

"It's been an honor Didact."

With a single wave of gesture, the Iso-Didact teleports him back to the bridge of his own planet breaker, Guilt of Consequences. The upcoming battle will dictates the survival of his species. Didact can feel the burden of responsibility on his shoulders, but his millennium of experiences of warfare allows him to concentrate even under such pressure. Didact looks over his monitor and watches the movement of the fleet.

The Forerunner fleets are divided by civilian ships and military vessel. The fleet consists of 30 different ships of the Builders, Miners, Life Workers and Council members, escorted by 4 Fortress class, 2 Carriers, 28 Dreadnoughts and 30 Harriers and the Didact's own personal flagship. These are the remains of the once mighty Forerunner navy, old but still functional at optimum efficiency, just like all Forerunner equipment.

Suddenly, the First Officer of the Guilt of Consequences, Endurance of Eternal Stars, broke the silence on the bridge.

"Didact, we have multiple readings on our Epsilon Sector. Contacts of roughly 200 unknown enemy vessels. 150 enemy vessels are just 160 meters long and 50 vessels are 2000 meters long. They are currently 5000 Kilometer away from our position, and they are traveling in pincer formation sir."

"Very well, let them think that they can encircle us. Have the dreadnoughts link up to Hex formation and fire at their capital ships. I want all Capital ships to be eliminated, and ignore the smaller vessels for now. Hex formation Alpha and Beta fire at left pincer, and Hex formation Gamma and Delta fire at the right pincer. All Harriers are to be maintaining its cloak."

"Understood Didact, it will be done."

The Dreadnoughts are the backbone of the Forerunner military, they are versatile and hold tremendous firepower. The 28 Dreadnoughts broke their original Delta formation split to four groups. The tactic of the Forerunner is simple, have six Dreadnoughts form a Honeycomb in space and have one Dreadnought in the middle. Then all six Dreadnoughts will have their energy battery charged to the Dreadnought in the middle, and the combine power of Seven Dreadnought will then release a concentrated energy beam to enemy vessels. It is one of the most devastating attacks ever created during the Flood War, and it remains as the most effective long range weapon for the Forerunner military.

Each Dreadnought is in their battle group formation and powered up their energy projectile. Then suddenly, a concentrated beam of pure energy sliced through the empty vacuum of space. The bright blue beam instantly decimated three Reaper capital ships in one shot. It was a clean cut and the once mighty Reaper capital ships are sliced like butter by hot knife. Some Reaper ships had their Element Zero core completed cut by the energy weapon, and the core itself exploded in a brilliant fireball of red. Then, the rest of the Forerunner battle groups fired as well.

The Reaper formations didn't even had the time to respond to this kind of attack. Millions of years of harvest served no protection against pure energy. Harbinger had underestimated the power of these organics, and his fellows Reapers will pay for his mistake.

"Didact, all ships confirmed kills. Scan indicates that these Reapers have only primitive Kinetic Barriers. Total kills count 13 enemy Capital ships sir."

"Very well, have all Dreadnoughts to hold their position and continue their fire."

"Didact, enemy ships are closing to our position. Currently their lead ships are only 3000 Kilometers from our position."

"Continue fire; remind me when they are in the range of 1000 Kilometers."

"Yes sir."

The Dreadnoughts continue their concentrated barrage, and each shot decimates a minimum of two Reapers Capital ships. The capital ship's evasive maneuvers prove to be in vain, as the Forerunner barrage proves to be just too fast to be dodged. One after one, the Sovereign-Class Reaper capital ships are obliterated by the blue beam of death. Never before had the Reapers encountered such a powerful adversary. Through all the cycles of harvest, the Reapers had always outclassed the organics in power, range and defense. However, now the Organics were able to destroy the majority of the Reaper capital ships in incomprehensible range. This brand new situation causes fear to shiver down the Reapers if the Reapers can feel fear.

Suddenly, the Reapers changed their tactic. Instead of trying to encircle the Forerunner forces, all Reaper Destroyer performed a FTL jump in an attempt to overwhelm the available 28 dreadnoughts. This plan would of work if there were only 28 Dreadnoughts that the Reapers were able to locate.

"Didact, we have all enemy vessels entering some kind of faster than light travel."

"Very well, they want to attempt to overwhelm our dreadnought. Fear not. All Dreadnoughts perform emergency slipspace jump and enter closer quarter range with the remaining Reaper capital ships."

"It is done Didact."

"Good, now have all Carriers release its fighter and have all Harriers disengage cloak. We will burn these Reapers to nothing but ash."

"Understood."

The Reaper capital ships believed that the Forerunner fleet is already finished. 150 Destroyers are overwhelming fire power, it can surely take down these 28 Forerunner Capital ships. However, to the Reaper's surprise, once their Destroyers entered FTL, a strange blue disc formed in front of the Forerunner ships, and suddenly the Forerunner ships are no more. The Reapers capital ships are still analyzing the situation before suddenly the 28 Dreadnoughts reappear right in front of the Reapers. One of the Dreadnought even rammed a Reaper capital ship, and the Reaper is immediately shattered to multiple pieces.

"Didact all emergency slipspace transitions are complete. Scan indicates just 11 enemy capital ships remains."

"Very well old friend have our Dreadnoughts fire at will. Eliminate these abominations."

"Yes Didact"

"Have the remaining enemy vessels arrived yet?"

"...Hostile contacts reappearing. 150 enemy vessels sir converging on the Guilt of Consequences."

"I want all Harriers and fighters fire at elevated angle. I want our Harriers and fighters to encircle the enemy vessels and suppress them with all of their firepower. Endurance of Eternal Suns, fire all particle cannons and move away from friendly fire."

"Already done Didact."

While the Reaper capital ships are being decimated by the Forerunner Dreadnoughts, the Destroyers fared no better luck. Once coming out FTL, the intended Forerunner Dreadnoughts had moved to the other side. Instead, the Destroyers are faced with 1 Dreadnought, 30 cruiser and hundreds of fighters. The Destroyers halted for a second to calculate the situation, and that one second proved to be fatal.

In one simultaneous action, all of the Forerunner vessels fired its weapons. Hundreds of blue beam smashed the Reaper formation like a hail of meteors. The direct energy weapons deployed by the Forerunner military completely bypass the kinetic barrier of the Reapers. Each shot of energy pierces through the hull of each Reaper destroyer. Element Zero core overload, hull structure failure, and overall hull disintegration are becoming more common among the Reaper ships. The Reaper ships fights back in attempt to turn the tide, only to find their Magnetohydrodynamic cannons to be absorbed by unknown blue shields.

"Didact, we've suppressed the enemy vessels. We are firing from all angles."

"Very well. Endurance, do you have any analysis on our enemy's weapons?"

"Yes Didact, these Reapers utilize Magnetohydrodynamic weapons. Our fighter's shields were only able to withstand these hits once, but our larger vessels are capable of taking these hits. We've been hit by multiple Reapers, and our shield strength only dropped by 2 percent."

"Very well old friend, contact Offensive Bias."

"Yes Didact."

"Offensive Bias, do you read me?"

"Didact, your strategic skills are supreme. I estimate that all enemy vessels will be eliminated in the next 3 minutes, with us only taking minor casualties by out fighter. "

"Offensive Bias I want you to analyze these Reapers. It's propulsion, faster than light drive and anything that poses a threat to the Forerunners. We may have defeated this task force, but there are still millions of Reapers out there. A tactic victory serves almost no weight for a war."

"It will be done."

The Didact looks out at the monitor of his ship. The Reaper vessels are being gutted by each single energy fire. The threat of these Reapers will be no more, but what concerns him is still what is out there. Millions of Reaper still out there…

"Didact the battle is over. All Reaper vessels are eliminated and we suffered minor casualties. To be exact we lost only 25 fighters. Congratulation Didact." The words of Endurance of Eternal Stars interrupted Didact's thoughts.

"Very well Endurance, let us join the Council."

"Very well Didact."

"Wait… have all ships cloak, we don't want more vessels to engage us, not for now."

"It is done Didact."

Suddenly Offensive Bias's hologram appeared before the Iso-Didact. "Didact, I've detected a vessel in approximately 1 light years away."

"Another Reaper?"

"No Didact, it doesn't seem to match the design of the Reapers. Scans indicates a more streamlined vessel. I've detected organic lifeforms on that vessel, it's owners are still currently unknown."

"Continue scanning Offensive Bias, Endurance?"

"Yes Didact."

"Have all ships cloaked except for mine. The Guilt of Consequences will deal with this new vessel."

"Yes Did-."

"Didact, this can be most troubling." Suddenly Offensive Bias's hologram turned into the Glyph of Reclamation. "Didact, I've detected human presence on the vessel."

Humans…. The Didact's first thought is that some of the ancient humanity must of escaped from the wrath of the Forerunners and travelled through intergalactic space. If these are the foes that the Forerunners had faced… the Didact cannot even imagine the possibilities. .

"Does it match with our ancient humanity's profiles?"

"No Didact, this vessel does not have any slipspace drive cores, and they give off some similar unusual gravitational readings that the Reapers were giving."

'Then perhaps these are indeed different humans.' This thought made the Didact to believe his Precursor theory to become more and more accurate.

"Very well Offensive Bias, Endurance I want you to prepare a recording, for I will sent a message to the humans."

"Very well Didact."

As the Iso-Didact walks in front of the recording device, he experienced a flashback when he last met Forthencho. Forthencho, the Lord of Admirals of Humanity, his greatest opponent. Their last encounter is still vivid in the Didact's memory, "I believe, that humans will not end here, but may rise again—fight again. Humans are always warriors." Human are always warriors… if only the Forerunner ever had the honor and chance to fight alongside with Humanity.

"Humans, we are Forerunners, and my name is Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, commander of the Forerunner military. It seems that this galaxy faces the threat of this Reaper, and so do we. I hope that we can come together as allies during the time of crisis."

"The message is sent Didact." The deep voice of Endurance of Eternal Stars echoes in the bridge of Guilt of Consequences.


	3. The Contact

Author's Note: I really appreciate the feedback and reviews, they really do help me a lot. Feel free to offer any suggestion to the story it-self.

Also, if anyone is interested in being a proof reader since I am not a native speaker, please contact me. May god have mercy on my grammatical errors.

Finally, please have a moment of silence for our men and women in uniforms, today is Memorial Day.

* * *

Revelation

Commander Alan Smith is a middle aged man with a few grey hairs in his head. Born in Scotland, Alan was from a poor family that lived off the public welfare. However, it is such conditions that Alan learnt the value of hard work. Alan would have got into the Cambridge Business School if his family was a bit wealthier. Facing with limited choice, Alan joined the System Alliance. Alan is a natural leader, and it didn't go unnoticed. After almost 20 years in the System Alliance, Alan was given the rank of commander and his own ship, the frigate SSV Sevastopol, named after the battle of Sevastopol back in World War Two.

The SSV Sevastopol was stationed with the Arcturus fleet before she was assigned to investigate a malfunctioning deep space probe deep in the galactic rim. Alan wasn't exactly pleased with this assignment, especially that the Batarians are all pissed off with what Shepard did. Speaking of Shepard, where is he? Alan had always viewed Shepard as a true hero for humanity, even if Shepard did work with Cerberus.

"Flight Lieutenant, take us to the Epsilon Relay."

"Roger that commander." Flight Lieutenant Larry Berger is a well experienced pilot with over 20 years flying various Alliance ships. From the Kodiak Shuttles to Mantis Gunships, Larry Berger had his taste in all varieties.

"Going through Epsilon Relay right now Commander"

It's a whoosh for Commander Smith. He never understood how these mass relays really worked, and he probably never will.

It's a matter a seconds before the SSV Sevastopol came out from the ending Relay. Ahead of them is the empty void of intergalactic space.

"Lieutenant Berger, enter FTL drive to the coordinates. Let's get this done as humanly fast as possible."

"Aye Aye Commander."

The SSV Sevastopol supercharged its Element Zero core, and the Sevastopol's mass effect field decreased Sevastopol's mass to the point that allows it to travel at velocity faster than light.

Even after all these time he had travelled in FTL, the sight of beyond the speed of light still amazes him. Brilliant flashes of white... never ending flashes of white appearing before his own eyes.

"Commander, ETA destination estimate 3 hours."

"Thank you Lieutenant Berger."

Everyone has a sixth sense, and in Smith's case that sixth sense is detecting hazardous situations. Commander Alan Smith trusts his instinct very much; it's been more than one time since his instinct had saved him. This mission gives him an uneasy feeling even though it is very standard one. Trusting his gut feeling, Alan picked out the microphone.

"Attention all hands, this the Commander speaking. As you all know Alliance Command had ordered us to check out a malfunctioning deep space probe. This seems like a pretty ordinary mission, grab and go. However, a deep space probe won't just malfunction on its own, especially that all of our other deep space probes are still working well to this date. No one knows if this is the work of Cerberus, or maybe even the Batarians. Therefore, I want all stations on high alert, I don't want any possible surprises. This is the Commander, out."

"Commander, coming out of FTL in 5 minutes." The voices of Lieutenant Berger interrupted Smith's nap. It was a good nap… a moment of peace before the storm.

"Alright listen up everyone this is Commander Smith, all personnel get to your battle station, high alert. Over and Out." Alan Smith really hoped it is just a probe malfunctioning, he still has a wife back on Earth.

"Commander we are coming out of FTL in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

"Good, Lieutenant let's find that-"

"Shit sir… you might want to see this…" The voice of Lieutenant Berger sounded as dry as a cotton.

In a moment, Smith's greatest fear is confirmed. Reapers… except what frightens Smith even more is how these Reapers are all derelict, and still burning. It's not just one Reaper, it's hundreds of them. All either sliced in half, or have their hull completely punctured and pierced. There is even one Reaper that is completely in different pieces…

The Commander still remembers the Alliance encounter with Sovereign; it was a nightmare even to this day. Cruisers getting gutted and cut down like paper. Entire Frigates flotilla eliminated by one single sweep of the Reaper's main gun and its GARDIAN systems. The Sevastopol is one of the Frigate flotillas that fired the final shot that destroyed Sovereign. It took 3 System Alliance Fleets to just destroy one Reaper, now there is some supernatural forces that can easily decimate the Reapers, it is almost like an act of god.

"All personnel scan the area, are there any other Reapers signatures? Comm, contact Alliance Command ASAP now."

The SSV Sevastopol just had its Quantum Entanglement communication system installed a few days ago. The SSV Sevastopol's advanced system allows her to send information to System Alliance Command in very short time of notice.

"Sir we are reaching System Alliance Commander. Confirmation the SSV Kilimanjaro, sir." The Comm officer yelled.

"SSV Kilimanjaro do you read?"

"SSV Sevastopol this is Admiral Hackett of SSV Kilimanjaro all copy." The strong and deep voice of Admiral Hackett echoed through the Comm system.

"Sir, we've just sighted some derelict Reapers sir… no, change that to hundreds." Commander Smith almost cannot suppress the excitement and fear in his voice.

"Derelict Reapers… are they recent?" Admiral Hackett's tone is suddenly very deep and quiet.

"That's the issue sir, these Reapers appear to be destroyed a few moment before. But what is more amazing sir, is that some Reapers are all sliced clean half, and the rest all have some kind of direct penetration of its hull."

"What…"

"Sir, some of the Reapers are still burning… "

"Commander, unidentified vessel straight ahead. Sir, it has no known configuration. The Operations Officer yelled.

"All units get a lock on target. Don't fire. Hail that ship." This is a first contact situation for Smith, and Smith doesn't want to provoke any kind of god like beings that will surely completely atomize him if turned hostile.

Remembering that he is still on the line with Admiral Hackett, Smith quickly reported to Hackett.

"We detected one ship remaining that's not a Reaper. It doesn't match to any profile of the Alliance Database, sir."

"Have you contact it yet Commander?" The Admiral replied.

"Commander hailing failed." The Comm officer yelled to the bridge, answering the Admiral's question.

"Commander CIC has no confirm lock on target, over." The Operation Officer interrupted the Comm officer.

Commander Alan Smith is now dripping sweat. Not the hot sweat due to the temperature, but the cold kind due to fear.

"Yes sir, but it seemed to have failed"

Before Smith could continue, the Comm officer again yelled to the bridge, "Commander we are receiving transmission from unidentified vessel!"

"… wait… hold a second, sir [Hackett] we just received a package!"

"Open it now Commander." Hackett's voice speaks authority and command.

"Sir it's a message form that ship, it's in Perfect English!"

What happens next simply cannot be described in words.

"Humans, we are Forerunners, and my name is Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, commander of the Forerunner military. It seems that this galaxy faces with the threat of this Reaper, and so do we. I hope that we can come together as allies during the time of crisis."

"Holy shit… sir this is a first contact scenario. Sir what should I do?" Commander Smith has been trained by the Alliance to follow first contact protocol, but right now the training just doesn't seem useful at all. Just then, Admiral Hackett's voice burst from the Comm.

"Commander, you orders are to contact them in the best bloody manner, and make sure we gain their support for our war against the Reapers."

"Sir Yes sir, it will be done." It's the only phrase Commander Alan Smith could think of now.

"Good, Hackett out." The Comm was then static.

* * *

Command

Admiral Hackett doesn't want to leave Commander Smith all by himself, but the discovery of another race is not the most pressing issue. Hackett would love to communicate with this new founded race. Hopefully it is peaceful and it will ally with Humanity. However, Hackett still has his own priorities. The Reapers can strike Earth at any second now, and Hackett knows that the System Alliance is not ready. The First Fleet is near the Charon Relay, and the Fourth Fleet above Earth is also mobilizing. The situation is almost helpless, with the whole System Alliance is cut off from each other, both in space travel and communication. This leaves only isolated pockets of resistance against an overwhelming force. The situation is bad… really bad.

Hackett have his faith in Commander Alan Smith to do the right thing. Smith is a decent man, a good leader, and most importantly, a damn good diplomat. There is only one man that can outmatch Smith in term of his diplomacy skills, and that man is locked up in Toronto for saving the galaxy. "Goddamn Shepard… all of our hopes are on you."

"Comm, give me a line to Admiral Anderson!"

"Aye Aye."

The Comm link opened.

"Admiral Anderson, how is things down there? We don't have much time."

"Admiral Hackett, I've just released Shepard, and we are going to the Defense Committee."

"Defense Committee? Words don't kill Reapers, guns do. The Committee will be a waste of time."

"Negative Admiral, the whole Defense Committee is currently scared to shitless, we need Shepard, the only one with any Reaper knowledge, to get the Committee to get their acts together.

"Well then Anderson, make it quick. Also, I've ordered to bring the Normandy back, it will arrive at the Headquarters soon."

"Understood Admiral."

"Good, make it quick Anderson."

"Will do Admiral."

To Hackett, bureaucracy is never his thing. If history had taught Hackett anything, then it is that bureaucratic issues always interfere with the best interest of the military. In the end, soldier's lives were sacrificed for political gains, and it pains Hackett every time he thought about how this galaxy's political agenda had limited their preparation for the Reapers.

The defensive perimeter around Earth is slowing forming…

'Good luck out there Commander Smith' was Hackett's only thought.

* * *

Reclaim

"Offensive Bias, collect all possible information on that ship."

"Understood Didact, I've already tasked an infiltration ancilla to collect data. Their cybernetic defense is almost non-existent."

Suddenly, the Iso-Didact experienced a surge in his body. Offensive Bias had just uploaded all the information collected on that ship's system, and it is instantaneously absorbed by the Didact's personal armor ancilla. Forerunner had mastered the art of ancilla to the point that billions of information can be absorbed and learnt by the user in matter of seconds. The Didact is filled with information of this galaxy, from the basic evolution of this humanity, to the creation of this "System Alliance", to the discovery of an unknown element called Element Zero and an unknown technology called Mass Relays, to the joining of this galactic community known as the Citadel Council, and finally to the gloomy threat that this Galaxy has to face. Humanity sharing the galactic stage with other species, these Asaris, Turians, Salarians and many more, these are truly intriguing to Didact. However, what stands out for the Didact is this one human called John Shepard. One single handedly defeat a Reaper Capital Ship and destroy a whole base of Reaper Slaves. Humans are always so full of surprises.

Suddenly Offensive Bias interrupted Didact's thought, "Didact the vessel is hailing."

"Let them speak."

"Your Ancilla will be transmitting the livefeed Didact."

"Good, now Offensive Bias, I want you to transmit your data to all Council members."

"It is done."

Then, the Didact's communication channel bursted in life.

"This is the SSV Sevastopol of the System Alliance. My name is Alan Smith, Commander of this ship. I wish we can make peaceful contact."

The transmission ended, and the Didact is left wondering what will be his next course of actions.

"Very well. Endurance of Eternal Stars."

"Didact."

"Contact this Human vessel, let them dock."

"Are you sure Didact? They can be a security threat."

"Let's make this an exception."

"As you wish Didact. I will send the transmission now."

…

"Didact, the vessel had responded. They are coming to the primary docking area now."

"Very well, Endurance monitor any activities of that vessel. Offensive Bias, join me as the delegation."

"Yes Didact." Both the Forerunner and the Construct replied.

In one single instant, the Didact teleported himself to the primary docking bay, along side with him is two Warrior-Servant guards.

The Didact had his armor to seal his face, as he doesn't want to surprise the humans. Humanity is a beautiful species to say the least, and because of that Humans viewed the Forerunners as ugly animals. Every species, no matter how powerful, will always have their own sterotypes.

Ahead of the Didact is the human vessel. It is sleek and menacing. Even with different galaxy, human design still impresses the Didact. Then the ship began to hiss, and in front of the Didact is 5 men, all in a blue coated armor with a single visor that showed the eyes.

The leader of the human spoke, and Didact's translation ancilla kicked in instantaneously.

"Greeting, my name is Commander Alan Smith, Commander of the SSV Sevastopol. I am here under the orders of the System Alliance to establish peaceful and positive contact among us."

A soldier as a diplomat, very interesting indeed. Then the Didact remembered he is not a diplomat either, except this is just how the circumstance worked. Circumstance dictates everything.

Then, the Didact's deep voice echoed from his own personal armor. "Greeting human, my name is Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, but you will call me simply as Didact. I am the leader of the Warrior Servant class, and the supreme commander of overall Forerunner military."

The figure in front of the Didact is merely six feet tall, contrast to the Didact's imposing figure of 10 feet tall. However, the man infront shows no fear, and he is rich in confidence in his voice.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Didact. I would like to welcome you to the System Alliance, the central representative body of Earth and her colonies." Humans are always so good with words.

"The pleasure is mine Commander Alan Smith." The ancilla of the Didact's armor pronounces perfect English with a little American accent.

"Very well. Now, I am going to cut in honest. I have no idea about your race, and there is no information about the Forerunners until now. Are you from this galaxy?" The Human decided to cut down all the formal setting and cut right to the point. Straight to the point, that is something the Didact prefer.

"Human, the answer for your question is no. We are Forerunners, guardians of the Mantle, and we traveled from another galaxy indeed." The Didact replied.

The expression on the man face was just disbelief. The man opened his mouth, then closed it because words simply cannot express his disbelief. The Didact on the other side, remained stoic and calm, it was already calculated that the human would remain in disbelief. Finally, the human spoke, "Well certainly there is a lot of information gap between us."

Little does the human know, the Didact had already learnt all of the information on this Humanity. However, maintaining diplomatic situation is very crucial, thus the Didact can only agree.

"Indeed, perhaps we should travel to the room of diplomacy." With a single wave of hand, the Humans and the Forerunners are teleported to the room of diplomacy.

"What… what just happened?" Exclaimed the Commander, and each of the four guards raised their weapon out of confusion.

"That was a slipspace teleportation device." Replied Offensive Bias, as his hologram suddenly appeared.

"What is this? Who are you?" The human exclaimed.

"I am Offensive Bias, Contender Class Ancilla in service for the Forerunners."

"An AI… isn't it? You've managed to have the AI to serve you? How does it operate without a blue box?" The commander immediately questioned. The four guards behind the commander immediately tensed their weapons after hearing the word AI, in response the Warrior Servants behind the Didact raised their weapon as well. Gold color light rifle instantly formed into life.

The Didact, however, remained calm. His armor ancilla had already allowed him to understand what the humans are talking about.

"Worry not, for our ancilla is safe. They are loyal for more than 100,000 years."  
"...That is incredible…" Then the human with a single wave of gesture, the four guards lowered their weapons, and at the same time, the Warrior Servants lowered theirs as well.

"Commander, I believe you have more other pressing issue for me."

"Didact, I will only be plain honest to you. Did your ship destroy these vessels out in the space?"

"Yes."

"You have destroyed approximately 200 Reapers ships. Let me tell you that it took the System Alliance 3 fleets to just take one Reaper ship down, but just one ship of yours can take down 200. This galaxy is under the threat of the Reapers, and we need help. I am here to seek an alliance between us humans and you Forerunners. We will provide everything you want, as long as you help us against the goddamn Reapers."

'Three fleets to take down one Reapers? How can this galaxy be so weak?' The Didact thought to himself.

"The Forerunners will lend you support against the Reapers. However, I insists that we perform a more detailed diplomatic meeting between our people."

"I agree, but then we will have to go to Earth or Arcturus system. Does your ship run on Eezo?"

"No." was the Didact's firm answer.

"Well that may be problematic, since you would need Eezo to use the Mass Relays. I can always report back to System Alliance and have they sent the delegation to you."

"That will not be necessary." Offensive Bias interrupted the Human officier. "For your location of Earth can be travelled in less than an hour."

"What… how do you know Earth's location?"

"The Codex." Offensive Bias replied.

The Didact almost worried that Offensive Bias is developing a humorous personality. It was then Offensive Bias communicated with the Didact's personal ancilla.

"Didact, the planet known as Earth is Erde-Tyrene, we can jump to the system in less than one hour."

"Thank you Offensive Bias." Was all of the Didact's reply.

"How… well if you can do so. I will contact with the System Alliance as soon as possible."

"Then we are agreed."

"Yes, and I need to return to my ship."

"And human, tell your council that there will be more than one ship."

Then, the Didact waved his hand, and suddenly reality shifted and the group was in the primary bay again.

The Didact wondered how the Ecumene will react to this news.


	4. First Glance

Author's note: A big thank you for all the reviews and feed backs from all of you. I really do enjoy reading the reviews and feed back, and they help me a lot.

If you guys have any suggestions, even to the plot, just put it in the Review. I will consider everything.

* * *

Ecumene

"The Ecumene Council is now in Emergency Session, Master Builder Constructor of Stars you are now recognized."

"Thank you Council, before I start, I would like to ask the Iso-Didact one important question, why are we traveling to unknown territory of the Humans?" The Master Builder roared against the Didact.

"Simply put Master Builder, we need allies for the upcoming war against the Reapers." The Didact remained stoic.

"And why should us, the Forerunners, to be in this conflict? If we meddle with this galaxy, do you understand the possible ramifications?"

"Aya" Part of the Council Chambers roared in support.

"Master Builder, the Mantle Shelters All." The Didact replied firmly.

"The Mantle? The Mantle? The Mantle IS DEAD!" The Master Builder yelled on top of his lungs.

The whole Council Chambers is suddenly deathly quiet. The Mantle had always been a sensitive topic ever since after the Flood War.

"No. For we did not understand the teachings of the Mantle, that was our mistake. 100,000 years I've been relearning the Mantle, and it presents a different view to me now."

"For we are not the inheritors of the Mantle. Humans are. So why not let these Humans go, and let them fight against the Reapers?" The Master Builder exclaimed.

"This Humanity, and this whole galaxy, do not possess the power to understand the true meaning of the Mantle. However, I see potential for this galaxy, of a unified galaxy that can embrace the Mantle." The Didact was a bit more eager, but he remains control.

"Didact, we cannot intervene, for the Mantle is not for ours to touch. Remember why we are exiled? Because of the Mantle." The Master Builder exclaimed. However, these words will prove the ignorance of the Master Builder.

The Didact can no longer suppress his anger. The Didact hated politics… it servers no progress. Then the Didact roared, his Prometheus anger shook the entire Council Chambers.

"Master Builder, you dare accuse that the Mantle is dead. For you do not understand, the Mantle's teaching is to protect all life in the galaxy, to use our power to help the others. However, the Forerunners were blind, and we used the Mantle as a justification for power. Endless amount of power, so much power that it weakened us against the Flood. Master Builder, your ignorance in the teaching of the Mantle only damage the Forerunners. In the last battle, the Reapers spilled the blood of my Warrior-Servants, and I demand the spill of Reaper blood until there are no more."

"Aya!" The whole Council Chambers roared and cheered in the Didact's support.

However, the Master Builder isn't just yet read to let the Didact win this conversation.

"Didact, we are no longer the Guardians of the galaxy, and neither do we have the power to do so. You would rather to put the lives of Forerunners behind the lives of others? For you are blind."

"Master Builder you continue in your ignorance to ignore the teachings of the Mantle. For the Mantle never states for one race to take on the Mantle. This galaxy had its version of the Mantle, for our job is to teach this galaxy of the teachings of the Mantle of Responsibility." The Didact rebutted.

"Aya!" Again the Council roared in support for the Didact.

"And what did you reveal to the Humans? For this galaxy is full of cowards, and they will only use us, Forerunners blood, to replace their own. We must not intervene with galaxy, it will only mark the doom of ours." The Master Builder is now desperate to find any reasons to gain support from the Council Chambers.

"Master Builder, you are correct, this galaxy is not a perfect one, for they do not understand the full teachings of the Mantle. The governing body of this galaxy, so called the Citadel Council, use the their own version of the Mantle to justify their own actions. Are they not similar to what we were? The Reapers will eradicate this galaxy of organic life forms, and thus we cannot simply watch. The protection of all life is not just the job of the one claiming the mantle, for it is the responsibility of every organic species. For we will and must show and teach this Citadel Council of the true meaning of the Mantle, isn't this the best redemption for our 100,000 years of Atonement?" The Didact replied with all of his energy.

"Aya!" Again the Council Chambers roared in full approval for the Didact.

The Master Builder, admitting his defeat, mumbled, "so be it…"

"The Council will now vote for its next course of actions. And all in favor of the Didact's course of actions?" Master Juridical Eternal Unify of Justice broadcasts to the Council Chambers.

"Aya!" Almost all of the Ecumene Council roared in support and approval. The roar shook the Council Chambers.

"Then the verdict is done." The Didact could almost see the eyes of disappointment of the Master Builders through the blue polarized visor.

"Councilors, there is another issue, for we must establish professional contact with the humans…" The Didact states to the Council Chambers.

"And that means a proper delegation." Eternal Unify of Justice replied instantly.

"Yes indeed."

"Very well Didact, since you were the one that established the first contact, the Council would recommend you to be the head of delegation."

"The honor is mine."

"Also, Chant To Green of the Life Workers, would you also like to join the Didact?"

"The honor is mine." Replied Chant To Green.

"Councilors, I would also like to request the presence of Offensive Bias as part of the delegation."

"Granted, Iso-Didact."

"Very Well."

"This session is now adjourned."

* * *

At Eden

Admiral Hackett looks out the bridge window of the SSV Kilimanjaro, the empty void of space only hints the incoming danger of the Reapers. The First Fleet is stationed behind Pluto, ready to attack at any notice of the Charon Relay. The Fourth Fleet had just finished setting up its perimeter stations around Earth. Now the most important thing is to evacuate Civilians to safer refuge. All kinds of ships, military and civilian, present and reserved, are deployed to evacuate Civilians to outer space. The rest are evacuated to underground bunkers, population centers, and even private basements, to provide some cover against the possible Reaper forces.

Hackett knows that the fleets won't be able to hold up against a Reaper armada. The only way the Alliance can fight this war is probably through a long war of attrition. However, a war of attrition against the Reapers will be suicide. The Reapers forces are larger and stronger than almost all of the Citadel forces combined. The situation is just hopeless…

Then Hackett remembered that Commander Alan Smith had contacted Alliance HQ about the new race they found, a fleet capable of destroying 200 Reapers. 200 REAPERS! It took 3 Alliance fleet to take down one Reaper Capital ship, and granted the Geth fleet did the most damage to the Alliance navy; the Reaper Capital ship still inflicted heavy casualties to the Alliance fleets. This new found race, so called the Forerunners, had made peaceful contact with the Alliance. Hackett swears that he will give Smith a goddamn medal for what he had accomplished.

"Sir! Massive gravitational distortion at Sector 3-5." The Operations officer yelled.

"Sir! Massive spikes of Cherenkov Radiation at Sector 3-5." The Sensor officer echoed in the bridge.

"Admiral Hackett! Multiple gravitational distortions and Cherenkov Radiation influx in Sector 3-5. This is Admiral Nelson of the SSV Tai Shan of the November Battle group, we are ready to engage." The Comm of the SSV Kilimanjaro suddenly burst into life.

"Stand by Admiral, we don't know what we are going to." Hackett replies firmly. Deep now Hackett is scared, he fear that this is the Reapers, but the Reapers use the same tech as this galaxy, just more advanced. There is a great amount of uncertainty in this situation.

"Roger that sir."

Then, the Sensor officer yelled on top of his lungs. "Admiral! There are ships coming out, 1 Dreadnought with the length… 3 Kilometers! It's bigger than the Destiny Ascension."

But before Hackett can say anything, the Sensor officer exclaimed again, "Sir, I've counted 28 unknown types of ships…. they are… sensor shows 10 Kilometers in length!"

Hackett then understood that these are not the Reapers, for creating such size of ships will require so much Eezo that it will probably bankrupt all of the Citadel governing body. More or less likely to be the Forerunners, but how do they manage to create ships in such size?

"Sir! We have reports of 30 other ships emerging, they are only Cruiserweight… Holy Shi…"

The voice of the Sensors officer suddenly died like a weak candle. Then though his silence voice, the officer murmured these words, "Sir, 4 unknown vessels… 100 Kilometers in length."

Admiral Hackett almost had a heart attack hearing this. '100 Kilometers!? That's more than twice the size of the Citadel… and this Forerunner species made 4 of these kind? No wonder they obliterated the Reaper force.' Hackett can only pray and hope that the kind of these ships, Forerunners or not, are peaceful to Humanity.

Then the Sensor Operations yelled for the final time, "Sir, we detected 30 ships of various lengths, but all are over 10 kilometers." The voice of the Sensor officer sounds almost as dry as cotton.

Then the Comm bursted into life, "This is Admiral Nelson, current in command of Battle Group November. We are going to engage unknown vessels! All units, pincer formation. Task force Hotel left flank and Task force Kilo right flank! Release fights in range!"

'If this fleet truly belongs to the Forerunners, and they are capable of eliminating 200 Reaper ships, then the System Alliance fleet will be atomized.'

"Admiral Nelson and all Alliance ships are to stand down! Disengage and fall back to Perimeter! This is Admiral Hackett, I repeat, all Alliance ships are to stand-"

Suddenly, a pulse of blue energy washed over the entire Alliance fleet. Admiral Hackett was ready to see his force obliterated because of the mistake of Admiral Nelson, but instead, all Alliance ships systems are suddenly powered down except for life support.

'One wave of energy and this race had completely disabled the entire Alliance fleet… this is just great.' Hackett thought to himself.

Then, the Comm on all Alliance ships begins to broadcast this one single massage: Humans, I am Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, supreme commander of the Forerunner military. Under the order of the Ecumene Council, I am here to establish peaceful contact with your 'System Alliance'. We are not your enemies, and we have your crews of the vessel called Sevastopol in safe positions."

"Holy shit… Smith did it." Was the only word Hackett can think of.

Before anyone can respond to the Forerunners, a human voice bursts in the Comm systems.

"This is Commander Alan Smith of the SSV Sevastopol of the Arcturus fleet, the Forerunners aren't hostile, I repeat the Forerunners are friendlies! I am not held hostage by the Forerunners; all Alliance fleets do not take any hostile intentions on the Forerunners."

'Smith definitely deserves a medal now.' Hackett thought to himself.

Then with a flicker of light, the systems on the Alliance ships begin to reboot and restart. "Sir! All systems are coming back online in 90 seconds!" The Sensors officer yelled.

"To Bridge this is Engineering, all drive core underwent hard reboot. Auxiliary power plant is 100% and primary power plant is currently rising."

"Sir! CIC says weapon systems are still down, we are all defense less."

Hackett cannot express his awe in the Forerunner Weapons. One single pulse capable of disabling entire fleets, the Alliance would definitely benefit from this weapon if they can acquire it.

Then the Comm opened again. "To Humanity, we, the Forerunners would want to establish peaceful contact. We will send our delegation to your vessel named the Sevastopol. We await your answer." Then the Comm went static.

A delegation for an alliance. This would be the job of Udina, but then again, Hackett had always hated Udina's guts and Udina is busy in Council business… Then Hackett thought about the perfect man for the delegation.

"Comm!"

"Yes sir?"

"Get me a line to Admiral Anderson now!"

"Aye Aye."

…

"Admiral Hackett… I see some colossal ships up there in the sky. Anything you need me?"

"How was the defense committee?"

"The defense committee ended with some results. The Committee is still scared, but they are willing to enter a total war state against the Reapers."

"Very well Anderson. Now these colossal ships you see? They belong to a race called the Forerunners, and they just wiped out 200 Reaper ships."

"200… if they can be our allies…"

"Then the war against the Reapers will be a much better favor. Now we need to make official contact with them. So I need you and Shepard up here now as part of the human delegate."

"I understand Admiral, we'll be there."

"Good Anderson, make it fast, Hackett out."

Then Admiral Hackett yelled to the Communication officer.

"Comm!"

"Sir!"

"Can you contact with the Forerunners?"

"Negative sir, their frequencies is too high for our computers."

"Damn it… wait, can you contact the Sevastopol?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Good, send them a message that the Human delegation will arrive in half an hour shortly."

"Copy that Sir."

Hackett can only wish everything will go well.

* * *

Shepard

Commander Shepard just had the most interesting time of his day since he returned to the System Alliance. Even though Alliance High Command knows that Shepard did the right thing, like working with Cerberus and destroying the Alpha Relay, they still have to put him in quarantine to stop the rise of any suspicion from Alliance Committee. At least finally, he is relieved of his home arrest.

The defense committee was a complete waste of his time. If the Alliance listened to him about the Reaper threat 3 years ago, then the situation will be much better today. At least he has Admiral Anderson to back him up for everything. Deep down, Shepard knows that this galaxy isn't ready for the Reapers…. no matter what.

"Shepard!" Anderson yelled across the hall. The defense committee just ended, and Anderson stormed off with the excuse of some priority messages.

"Anderson." Shepard replied.

"Shepard, Admiral Hackett had requested your presence."

"For…"

"Contact with new species."

"New species huh…. unless you are telling me that the Reapers are willing to talk about peace, then I doubt this new specie will help us much."

"On the contrary, this new specie is called the Forerunners."

"Forerunners, do they claim themselves as gods?"

"Technically, we can call them god."

"Anderson… you're kidding me."

"10 minutes ago, a Forerunner fleet arrived right above sol. There look out, you can see their ship."

"... That's bigger than Sovereign."

"And they pack a mighty punch, some Alliance ships decided to attack the Forerunner fleet, this resulted having all Alliance ships disabled by a single pulse energy."

"That's a bad start...

"Yes you are right, but these Forerunners apparently had a non-peaceful contact with the Reapers, they are here to ally with us. They had made first contact with the SSV Sevastopol, I'm sure you are familiar."

"Yeah… I remember that ship, saved my life by taking down Sovereign, Alan Smith is a good man."

"Well Commander Smith did a good job of bringing them here, now it is our turn to make a formal treaty with them."

"If they can build ships of such size, why do they need us."

"That's what we are going to find out."

"Well then… and so, the Alliance wants me to play the diplomat."

"Yes, let's board to the Normandy, Hackett will brief you while we are there."

"Sounds good to me."

Able to board the Normandy certainly lighten up Shepard's mood. The Normandy is like Shepard's other mother, always giving care, shelter and comfort to Shepard. Going back to the Normandy is like a baby returning to its mother's arms.

The Normandy SR-2 slowly descends to the Alliance HQ, its original Black and Yellow Cerberus color is now replaced to a more familiar sleek black and blue of Alliance colors. The ship itself looks like a shark to Shepherd, a sleek shark that can punches a mighty punch.

"Shepard, it is good seeing you."

"Joker, you're still there." The sound of Joker certainly put a smile Shepard's face.

"Commander, how do you like the ship? Alliance upgraded its paint job. She looks brand new, like just out of the assembly line."

"I can see that Joker, now, open the hatch."

"Oh yeah sorry Commander."

Anderson, Shepard and a few Alliance guards boarded on the SR-2 Normandy, and immediately Shepard noticed a sizeable difference. The Normandy is a bit more spacious, probably due to the Alliance retrofitted the warship for six months. However, another key component is missing in this ship. It's the crew. Shepherd misses his crews, after the destruction of the collector base, a lot of the crews had to go separate ways because Shepard is detained by the Alliance. 'Goddamn Alliance' Shepard curses to himself quietly.

"Shepard, this way." Anderson's voice interrupted Shepard's nostalgia.

Surprising to Shepard, in the war room is Admiral Hackett and other various high ranking Alliance officers. All military, none of the Civilian officials.

"Shepard, you finally arrived. It's good to see you, how you're holding up son?" Admiral Hackett was the first to speak to Shepard.

"Green, sir!" Shepard snapped to a salute to Admiral Hackett.

"At ease Shepard."

"Sir."

"Let me debrief you on our situation, now that you are here. At 0900 Military Standard, the SSV Sevastopol came in contact with a new race called the Forerunners, and a pile of 200 Reapers rubble. I ordered the Sevastopol to establish peaceful first contact with each other. The Sevastopol accomplished that, and now the Forerunners are at Earth to form an Alliance. The Forerunners arrived at 1100 Standard time, the Forerunners arrived at Earth. Admiral Nelson followed protocols of assuming alien as hostiles and engaged Forerunner forces, which resulted in the disable of the majority of the Fourth Fleet. The good thing was no one was injured, and we are in schedule with our meeting with the Forerunners. Dealing with new species isn't something the Alliance is always good at, and right now we lack an official diplomat. So we got the closest thing, and that's where you come to play."

"I understand Admiral."

"Good Shepherd, we are arriving at the Primary Docking Bay of the Forerunner Flagship in 10 Minutes. All related information had been sent to your Omni-Tool, you should check it out." The Omni-Tool of Shepherds blinked and formed around Shepard's wrist.

"I understand Admiral, you can count on me."

"Good." Was all that of Hackett's reply.

Shepard went through his omni tool, absorbing as much information as he could. The fleet composition, the delegation, but what brought the most interest to him is this figure called the Iso-Didact. 'Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, that is like a Hanar name' Shepard thought to himself.

"Gentlemen we will be in Forerunner Primary Dock ETA 1 minute." Joker's voice echoed through the Normandy's Comm systems.

"Let's get ready Gentlemen." Hackett whispered to the delegation crews.

With a hiss, the hatch of the Normandy lowered it-self. Shepherd lead the delegation in front, walking behind him were Admiral Hackett, Admiral Anderson, Admiral Nelson and various other officials. Greeting the Alliance delegation is the Commander of the SSV Sevastopol, Commander Alan Smith.

"It's good seeing you Shepard, Commander Alan Smith, SSV Sevastopol, joining your delegation." The Commander snapped to a salute, which is strange since both men share the same rank. However, Shepard is an Alliance legend among Alliance ranks, it's not unusual for equal or even sometimes higher ranking officers to snap a salute to Shepard.

"We don't need the formality Alan; it's good to see you." Shepard offered a handshake.

"Yeah… 10 years since we fought through the N training." Both Alan Smith and Shepard went through the rigorous N7 training program, Smith would've made it through with Shepard, but an accident injured Smith's left arm, disqualifying him from retaining the title N7.

"Right Shepard, you look good, Shepard." Smith took the handshake.

"Commander Alan Smith!" Admiral Hackett suddenly interrupted the handshake among the two men.

"Sir! Commander Alan Smith, SSV Sevastopol, Arcturus 3rd Fleet." Alan Smith snapped to another salute, this time a salute that is necessary.

"At ease Smith, you did one hell of a job down here. Well done son."

"Thank you sir."

Then, a deep voice echoed through the ship. It was a voice of experience, a voice of time, and a voice of knowledge. "Greetings Human, I am the Iso-Didact, head of Forerunner delegation." The 10 feet tall Forerunner walked steadily down the bay of the Forerunner ship. The Forerunner wore silver colored Armor with a polarized gold visor. The armor is simple and plain, but it demands authority and respect. What catches Shepard's attention the most is that there are pieces of the Armor floating in the air. The figure walked in grace and majesty, towards the human delegation. Behind him were two other figures, flanking the Iso-Didact, and what is surprising is that the two guards are floating in the air. Each wears an armor that looks simple but deadly, and each with a huge gold polarized visor. In the guard's hands are two rifles that Shepard had never seen before, even in his dreams. Rifle that has floating parts, with gold energy running as veins, it almost seems like the gun itself is alive.

'That's a hell of a guy… bigger than a Krogan, capable of manipulating gravity...' Shepard thought to himself, just then Shepard remembered the point of him being here. In an instant, Shepard broke the awkward silence among the two races. "I am Commander Shepard, Captain of the SSV Normandy, leading the Human System Alliance Delegation. Next to me are Admiral Steven Hackett, head of Alliance Navy; Admiral David Anderson, head of Alliance special operation; Admiral Drew Nelson Commander of Alliance Fourth Fleet; Admiral Pablo Cardenas, Commander of Alliance First Fleet and Vice Admiral Hayley Kunkle, head of Alliance Intelligence. It is a great honor of both me, and the Alliance, to make contact with the Forerunners."

"The honor is mine, now, please follow me, for we will travel to the room of Diplomacy." The 10 feet tall Forerunner replied.

The Human delegation walked down the docking bay of the Forerunner warship. The Bay it-self is enormous, capable of probably inserting a few Alliance Cruisers. Inside the bay are numerous objects floating and levitating off the floor. These scenes put hock to the Alliance delegations. Then the delegation stopped as the leading Forerunner stopped. In a single instant, the Forerunner waved his hand in midair, and the reality surrounding the delegation shifted. The delegations then found themselves in another room in a blink of an eye.

"What happened!?" Shepard immediately had his hand placed on his pistol, ready for the worst. The rest of the System Alliance guards followed Shepard as well. The air was suddenly very tense.

"Guys, guys, guys, worry not. That was just a teleportation device. We are now in the room of Diplomacy." Commander Alan Smith immediately jumped in to defuse the situation.

"Humans, for I do not intend to harm you in any way. Take a seat, the remaining Forerunner delegations is here." In one flash instant, another Forerunner 'teleported' into the room of Diplomacy. The new Forerunner looks much skinner, shorter… and more feminine.

"Greeting Humanity, for I am Chant-To-Green, leader of the Forerunner Life workers." The Forerunner introduced her-self.

Then, a hologram formed before the Admirals can say anything. It was a deep baritone voice of Offensive Bias. "Greetings, I am Offensive Bias, Contender Class Forerunner Ancilla, second in command of Forerunner military." The introduction is simple, and effective.

The System Alliance officials each took a seat around the round table in the Room of Diplomacy. The seat is composed of hard light, and it shocks the humans to see that light can be manipulated into something with mass.

"Admiral Hackett was the first one to speak. "My apologies for my rudeness, but we do not have much time to spare. I think everyone is this rooms knows what kind of threat we are going to face. For the Reapers attacked both of each race here without mercy. I just want to form a formal alliance among us. Humanity and Forerunners, together, against the Reapers. Together we stand, divided we fall." The speech made by Hackett was simple, clear and precise. The ring of his words echoed in the Room of Diplomacy.

"I, on the behalf of the Ecumene Council, concur with your statement. For now on, we shall become allies." The Didact spoke in reply to Hackett's speech.

It was then Vice Admiral Hayley Kunkle interrupted the formal proceedings. "Forerunners, though your forces outclass the Reapers on almost every edge, they clearly outnumber your forces. If you are willing to share your technology, then the Alliance will be able to take on more of the Burden of the upcoming war." 'Damn it Hayley, this is too early to ask for their technology.' Shepard thought to him-self.

"You are correct." It was the feminine Forerunner that spoke this time. "We are severely outnumbered, but the sharing of technology, can be complicated. Fore we do not wish to let the technology fall into the wrong hands, there will only be limited access."

'Goddamn it Hayley you ruined it...' Then Shepard had an idea to distract this meeting from the suddenly awkward position.

"Forerunners, it is truly wonderful that we can become allies during the time of this. However, ships wide communicating with your naval vessels are still quite difficult."

"For that is already resolved. The communication systems had already adjusted to fit Human Communication Standards." Offensive broke through Shepard's request.

"Is that… is that an artificial intelligence?" Admiral Drew Nelson suddenly asked to the Forerunner delegation. Upon hearing the word artificial intelligence, the System Alliance guards tensed up and hold their weapons a bit tighter.

"Yes, I am indeed an Artificial Intelligence, or Forerunner calls it, Ancilla. For you do not need to worry, I am perfectly safe for more than 100,000 years." Offensive Bias almost snorted.

"Worry not human, for our artificial intelligence had saved trillions of lives." The Didact stated in support for Offensive Bias.

"Very well, it seems that your race had already mastered the art of Artificial Intelligence. That is at most impressive." The Admiral of the First Fleet spoke.

"Very well, humans, now let's move on to the war." The Iso-Didact jumped straight to the point.

"Didact, I hate to say this but the Alliance, hell, even this whole galaxy may need your technology to even defeat the Reapers. The Reapers outclass in every single way, and there you are, with powers capable of decimating entire Reaper armada." Admiral Hackett jumped straight to the point as well.

"Admiral, I understand your concern. However, the Forerunners cannot fight this war for you, nor can we blindly allow you to gain access to our technology. We have our reasons, for it is in our beliefs of life. However, the Reaper spilled the bloody my warriors, and they will receive their punishment. The Forerunners will commit to vital sectors in the upcoming Reaper war as part of our Alliance, but there is only one solution to win this war now: unite this galaxy as one and face the Reapers as one." The Didact's words span in both knowledge and experiences.

"Very well, I believe this makes us a deal. However is there anything the System Alliance can provide for you?" Admiral Hackett asked the Didact.

"For the war against the Reapers, we only seek that you share us your information as well as some raw materials." The Didact replied.

"Very well, I think that puts us at a good end." Hackett concluded.

"Humans, I would also like to-" Before Chant-To-Green was able to finish her sentence; a transmission broke the formality of the Room of Diplomacy.

It was Joker.

"Shepard! Shepard, are you there?"

"Joker I am in a middle of a meeting." Shepard was forced to cover his ears and whispered these words.

"Commander, it's the Reapers. Hackett and Anderson should be receiving these transmissions about now."

It was then suddenly all of the Alliance Admirals received some kind of call, and Hackett's face turned into the color of a marble stone.

"Didact, I fear we must cut short of our meeting. The Reapers have found Earth."

"Very well. Do what you must do; the Forerunners will aid you this time."

"It will be appreciated."

Shepard then had his reality shifted by to the primary bay. All he heard immediately was Admiral Hackett's voice.

"Admiral Nelson and Admiral Cardenas get back to your ship. Tell me how much Reaper forces are near the Relay. Anderson go back to Earth and coordinate local defense and evacuation. Hayley you are to come with me. Commander Smith and Shepard… don't get into the fight yet, orbit above Earth and observe, any kind of Reaper ships come through coordinate with other remaining ships and harass the Reaper ships, delay them as long as possible, we need to evacuate as much people as possible. Let's get this going."

The Battle for Earth has begun.

* * *

Do Leave a review please.


	5. The Initial Fire

Author's Note: I apologize for my lack of update in the time period. Finals are coming and I just don't have the time and resource to keep writing. I lhave to thank all the people that gave their time to write a review for my story, I really do appreciate it.

Also, I won't be able to write for quite some time, I will probably resume writing around July. For June I have both finals (:( ) and summer nationals for fencing. Cheers to everyone.

* * *

War at Eden

"Didact!"

"Chant to Green, the situation is dire."

"Didact, I was not even able to express my concerns during the time in the Room of Diplomacy, I have a voice."

"The circumstance dictates the actions. You know thi-"

"I do, but I must insist-."

"We will discuss this later Chant to Green, but now there is a battle ahead."

"But Didact, I need-"

"Another time Chant to Green, get back to your ship, this is the circumstance of emergency and I have emergency powers granted by the council."

"... As you wish." In a swift movement, Chant to Green teleported herself back to the flagship of the life workers.

In the same swift motion, the Iso-Didact teleported himself back to the bridge of the Guilt of Consequences. The Guilt of Consequences, though only three kilometers long, possessed the fastest slipspace drive and newest particle cannons.

"Offensive Bias, display me the situation."

Offensive Bias's hologram appeared before the Didact.

"Didact, scan shows ten Reaper Capital ships along with 20 Reaper destroyers. All in Delta formation with Destroyers in front and Capital ships in back. Humanity ships had already engaged, their number superiority is currently evening the battle."

"This is a scout force to draw humanity's fleets." The Didact immediately saw through the Reaper trap, and he can sense that the trap is closing.

"Endurance, give me a communication to the Humans, now. Offensive Bias, direct all Harriers to the asteroid belt and have them cloaked. All Fortress ships and Civilian ships are to cloak as well."

"Didact, communication channel opened."

"This is Admiral Hackett of System Alliance, Iso-Didact, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Admiral Hackett, tell your ships to disengage and fall behind the asteroid belts."

"I see the trap as well, but the fleets are all tangled up in close quarters. Retreating now will cost a lot of lives."

"I understand, but you need to pull back now, or your fleets will be obliterated."

"We need the fleet to delay those Reapers from reaching Earth. Our evacuation is not complete, not by close." The tone of Admiral Hackett made it clear to the Didact.

"The Forerunners will cover your fleets; have your fleet disengage now!"

"Wouldn't the Reapers just enter FTLl, how would we counteract-"

"The Reapers will not, for this is a scouting party, they are here to collect information, have your fleet disengage now Admiral."

"Understood."

Faintly from the Communication Channel, the Didact heard the human Admiral's command. "All ships, this is Admiral Hackett, all ships retreat back to Earth. I repeat all ships are to fall back now."

"Offensive Bias, keep me updated on the situation, are the Harriers in position?"

"Didact, more Reaper ships are coming through the Mass Relays, currently calculating and counting 300 Capital ships and 500 Destroyers. All Harriers are in position behind asteroid belt."

"Good, have all Harriers activate gravitational slings, engage Reaper forces with asteroids."

"It is done Didact."

It was then that the Iso-Didact shifted to his Battle Mode. In a single second, time flow slowed down for the Didact. The Didact now is no longer communicating with words to command the battle; the personal ancilla relays the information with all of the Didact's commanders. The Didact's own perception of reality is splintered to different variable frames, allowing the Didact to multitask different situations at once. Battle Mode is the highest achievement for a warrior servant, and more importantly, the Prometheans. There is only one other Forerunner that can achieve Battle Mode.

The Harriers of the Forerunner Navy are fast maneuver attack ships. They are considered lightly armed and small relatively in the Forerunner Arsenal. Each Harrier only has one single energy beam weapon and a few hard light turrets. However, what the Harrier lack in weaponry, it makes it up in speed, maneuverability and versatility. Also, each Harrier contains a gravity sling that can make practically anything, from asteroids to debris, into projectiles.

The 30 Harriers remained cloaked behind the Asteroid belts, avoiding any Reaper detection. The Harriers gravitational slings then grabbed the asteroids and altered the asteroids original random course of collision to streams of projectiles traveling at 7 percent of the speed of light. The asteroids hailed through the vacuum of space, and hit with precision to the leading Reaper ships.

In the case of organic harvest, the Reaper formation is fairly simple, yet deadly. The Reaper Capital ships lead the front to absorb majority of the damage, then when the distance is close, Reaper destroyers emerge behind the Capital ships and swarm any organic defenses. Putting in the Reapers higher mastery in both firepower and defense, no organics have yet to defeat the Reapers. However this time, the Reapers will face their true nightmare. The asteroids are traveling faster than an organic dreadnought mass accelerator guns, and the Reapers evasive maneuvers are all in vain. The destroyers, due to their small size, were able to evade the large asteroids chucks easily. However, the less maneuverable Reaper Capital ships, took the brunt of the asteroid strikes. The kinetic shield of the Reapers is no match for the sheer kinetic energy impacted on the Reaper ships. One single asteroid easily overwhelms the Reaper's kinetic barriers. Each ship is knocked off existence by the heat and kinetic energy of each asteroid strike, instantly decimating the forward position of the Reaper formations.

The Didact observed the Harrier group, which were currently making good progress. However, there are just too less Harriers to effectively stop the Reaper ships from swarming the 30 Harriers. The Harriers had reduced the Reaper fleet from 300 Capital ships and 500 destroyers to 241 Capital ships and 485 destroyers, effectively reducing Reaper fleet combat effectiveness to 90.75 percent. The Didact relayed this information with all the Forerunner naval commanders, allowing each commander to experience the Didact's point of view.

In the last minute before the Reaper fleet reached to the asteroid belt, the Didact called off the Harriers, depriving the Reapers a chance to engage Forerunner battle groups. For the Harriers had accomplished its purpose. The Reaper fleet and its ships are reduced by ten percent, and the original tight formation of the Reaper is now scattered Reaper ships trying to evade any possible further asteroid strikes. Each pocket of ships isolated from each other, and coordination among the Reaper ships are at the lowest efficiency. The scattered formation is exactly what the Didact predicted, and wanted.

One hail of marshal and 28 Forerunner Dreadnought jumped out of their pinpoint slipspace transition, and immediately opened fire on the scattered Reaper ships. Each Forerunner Dreadnought is armed to the teeth, with multiple energy beam weapons and hundreds of hard light and laser turrets. The direct energy beams cleanly pierced through the Reaper ships, Capital or Destroyers. However, it was the Forerunner hard light turrets that especially made the significant difference. The hard light weaponry was only employed in scale by the Forerunner navy during the later stages of the Forerunner Flood War. Each hard light turret fires hard light shells encased in extreme plasma that share the properties of both the kinetic energy of projectiles and the extreme heat and energy of direct energy weapon. The Reaper ships are no match for the combination of both. Each hard light shell is absorbed by the Reaper kinetic barrier, only to have the heat of the hard light shell to boil away the Reaper hull. The Reaper ships didn't even try to fire back at the Forerunner vessel; the overwhelming firepower at close range caused the Reaper ships to flee from any segment of the battlefield with Forerunner presence. This is perhaps the first time in history that a Reaper fleet is fleeing away from organic forces. The Forerunner fleet, grabbing this chance, pierced through the fleeing Reaper ships, eliminating pockets of Reaper ships one by one, in overwhelming effectiveness.

The Didact looked through the current situation. The battle is currently in the favors of the Forerunners, with Reaper ships either fleeing away or getting crushed. However, the Didact knows that this temporary situation will only be temporary. If the Reapers are truly ancilla guided ships, then the Reapers would simply adjust to different situation. Overall, the ambush set up by the Forerunner Dreadnought had further reduced the Reaper fleet to 193 Capital ships and 371 destroyers, effectively eliminating the original Reaper fleet combat effectiveness to 70.50 percent. The Didact had already completed the second phase the battle, now the Reapers are regroup and trying to coordinate a counterattack. The Didact relayed the information to all Forerunner commanders, and in one instant, the Didact initiated the final phase of the battle.

The Forerunner Dreadnoughts were then all called off and returned to the Forerunner perimeter, again depriving the Reapers a chance from engaging the Forerunner Fleet effectively. The Reaper fleet, however, was unable to conclude to a feasible action for the battle. The Forerunner warships are stronger and faster than the Reapers, and the Forerunner warships are also capable of remain hidden. The Reapers are unable to get a clear sense of the numbers of the Forerunner navy, and suddenly space is something very dangerous for the Reaper fleet. It is the first time that the Reapers don't know what to actually do with the organics. However, thousands of cycles of harvesting gave the Reapers a sense of false hope, and very quickly the Reaper fleet rearranged its formation. The Reaper fleet changed itself to a sphere formation, with the destroyers at the outside perimeter, encasing the valuable Reaper Capital ships on the inside. The formation aims to allow the Reaper Capital ships to engage any incoming vessel with ease. The new Reaper formation travelled slowly to Earth, scanning different areas hoping to find any traces of organic warships.

The Didact watches the Reaper formation closing into Earth and Forerunner perimeter. A sphere formation moving slowly towards the Forerunner; The Didact understood that he had already struck fear into the hearts of the Reapers. The Didact, communicating with all of his naval commanders with their armor ancilla, initiated the final push to eliminate this Reaper fleet.

In four bright flashes, four Fortress class Forerunner vessel exited the slipspace transition, and encircled the Reaper formation four different axis. The Fortress class vessel is perhaps the most powerful weapon in the entire Forerunner arsenal. The Fortress Class vessel, each measuring 100 Kilometer in length, is armed with thousands of hard light turrets, energy projectiles and multiple other direct energy weapons. However, the primary weapon of the Fortress class is one single direct energy weapon capable of collapsing entire stars. The Fortress vessels immediately surprised the Reaper formation. Facing with a ship that is more than twice the size of the Citadel, the Reapers had to halt to process such raw information. However, the Forerunners will not give the Reapers time to calculate, and the Fortress rained down its hard light weaponry and energy projectiles upon the doomed Reaper fleet.

What happened next cannot be called a battle, but a mere massacre. The Fortress class ships circle around the Reaper formation, raining down thousands of hard light shells and direct energy to the Reapers. Every blue lances of energy either cut clean thoroughly the Reaper Capital ships and destroyers or pierced through the Reaper ships, overloading the element zero core, and utterly destroying the each Reaper processing unit. Meanwhile, the hail of hard light continues its rains of punishment upon the Reaper ships. The destroyers cannot stand up to the hard light shells, while its kinetic barriers are able to block the hard light shell itself, the super-heated plasma boiled through the vulnerable hulls of the Reaper destroyers. The Reaper Capital ships fared only a little better compared to its little brother. The Capital ship's armor is much thicker compare to the Destroyers, and thus it was able to withstand the hard light barrage for a few moments. However, the hail of hard light would deprive of the Capital ship's kinetic barrier in matter of minutes, and very soon the combination of kinetic energy and extreme heat landed on the already weakened Reaper super structure. The Reaper Capital ships would then disintegrate, and simply perish to free flowing atoms in the unbound vacuum of space. The Reaper ships immediately attempted to swarm and overwhelm the Fortress vessels; however, the overwhelming firepower of each Fortress suppressed the incoming Reaper ships at bay. The Reaper ships fired their Magnetohydrodynamic weapons at the Forerunner vessels. The jet of hot stream of iron, tungsten and uranium ejected from each Reaper, hoping to destroy the monstrous Forerunner ships. Their attempt, proved to be in vain. The shield of the Fortress class warships absorbed the incoming Reaper weapon, and shrugged it off as if it was an annoyance from a pest. The Fortress continues to fire at the Reaper formations, decimating the Reaper ships one by one. Every second, tens of Reaper ships, destroyers or Capital ships, were disintegrated, sliced, or exploded by their own Element Zero core. Then the final blow comes in, with all of the Forerunner Dreadnoughts and Harriers joining the battle, raining down tremendous amount of hard light shells and lasers upon the already doomed Reaper fleet. The barrage of the Forerunners continued for a few minutes, before it halted. Simply put, the space between the Forerunner fleets contains no more Reaper ships, only debris and atoms.

The Didact then reemerges to the reality, for the battle is won. In one battle, 300 Reaper Capital ships and 500 Destroyers were decimated by the Forerunners.

"Didact, additional Reaper forces inbound." Offensive Bais' baritone voiced echoed in the bridge of the Guilt of Consequences.

"Show me."

A hologram appeared before the Iso-Didact. The positions of the Mass Relay and the arrival Reaper fleet all indicated in marks of deep red.

"500 Reaper Capital ships with 800 Reaper Destroyers. Standard formation Delta… Didact, the Reapers had entered FTL."

The Didact instantly thought about Reaper trying to swarm the Forerunner positions. It is a possible idea, with Reaper forces having an overwhelming advantage in numbers and Forerunner ships all clustered in one place.

The personal ancilla of the Didact relayed the command of the Iso-Didact, "All Forerunner ships be ready to engage Reaper forces in close range."

"Didact, all Reaper forces have jumped into the Asteroid belt."

'Asteroid belt, why would the Reapers go to the Asteroid belt.' The Reaper's sudden change of tactic was predicted, but going to the Asteroid belts means that either the Reapers are taking cover and hoping to engage close quarters, or perhaps….

Suddenly the Didact understood the Reaper's intention. The Reapers cannot face the Forerunners face on, so they had to rely on some kind of cover. The Asteroids will serve as a protection against Forerunner weapons. At the same time, the Reapers can also send the asteroids as projectiles, though the last idea seemed a bit unlikely.

"Didact, Reaper formation had placed several Asteroids as shields. Scans indicates multiple layers of Reapers and asteroids are serving as defensive covers for the larger quantity of Reaper Capital ships behind."

"Damn it… for we've already lost the element of surprise. Have all Dreadnoughts line up and engage Reaper forces in long range fire, and have all civilian ships jump to another location. Prepare for all remaining ships to perform pinpoint slipspace jumps, we are going to attack from angles that the asteroids cannot cover."

Offensive Bias relayed the information to all Forerunner naval vessels, and the clustered Forerunner fleet sprang into actions.

The Didact knew perfectly what he was doing, if his memory served right, he used the versatility of Forerunner attack angles to crush ancient humanity's defensive position, an irony that he is using the same tactic, but to protect humanity instead. Forerunner ships would perform pinpoint slipspace jumps into different angles and simultaneously engage the human positions. The angles allowed the Forerunners to attack humanity's warships under covered of the Precursor artifacts. After waves after waves of attack, the ancient humanity's position would eventually wore down to just debris and lone Precursor artifacts.

The Didact shifted back to his reality, for the coming second will dictate the outcome of this battle. Offensive Bias had already told the Human Admiral of their intentions, and the Human Admiral said that the basic evacuations will be roughly complete in another hour.

The Forerunner Dreadnought moved to their signature Honeycomb formation, and in a blink of an eye that four blue lances of concentrated pure energy sliced through the empty vacuum of space. Asteroids or not, the combined effort of the improvised asteroid shielding did little to protect the Reapers from the Forerunner weapons. High intensity energy instantly evaporates the asteroids and the Reapers. However, the sheer number of the Reapers saved the Reapers from complete annihilation. Then, a total of 35 slipspace ruptures opened in the empty vacuum of space and 35 different Forerunner warships emerged at the exposed flanks of the Reaper formation.

The Didact emerged to his battle mode, instantly managing the whole 35 Forerunner warships. About 1300 Reapers engaging 35 Forerunner, the Forerunners are outnumbered about 37 to 1. The ancilla relayed the Didact's command, and all of the Forerunners rained down their weapons. However, the Reapers, gaining new found knowledge from previous engagement, changed their tactic. Instead of trying to swarm the Forerunners using their destroyers and Capital ships, the Reapers released all of their fighters. Hundreds of thousands of fighters formed a protective field around Reaper ships to block the Forerunner hard light and lasers. The all of the combined forces of the fighters and Reapers opened fire against the Forerunner forces.

The Didact, instantly directed the Forerunners into emergency slipspace jumps, avoiding the Reaper onslaught, eliminating another chance of engagement for the Reapers. Then the Didact tried a bolder tactic.

In four bright flash of light, the four Fortress class vessels emerged and pierced through the Reaper formation vertical down. The superior shielding of the Fortress class rammed tens of Reapers out of existence, while the energy projectiles and hard light turrets eliminated nearby Reaper ships and fighters. The Fortress vessels emerged from the Reaper formation and made a slipspace jump, again depriving the Reapers form a proper chance to engage Forerunner forces in overwhelming numbers.

However, the battle was not in the favor of the Forerunners. Although the Forerunners suffered no casualties, the Reaper armada is bearing close to Earth. If only the Didact had greater numbers to multiply the superior firepower of the Forerunners…

The Didact suddenly ordered all Forerunner warships to disengage and fall back behind the Dreadnoughts. The Didact had come up with a final resort to end this battle.

The Forerunner fleet entered another slipspace jump and jumped on top of the orbit of Earth. Then, the Fortress class vessels turned their main weapons to the approaching Reaper armada. The Embrace of Shelter, the lead ship of the Fortress class vessels, fired its main weapon. A brilliant blue of energy raced through the distance between the Reapers and the Forerunners. The energy beam collided with the Asteroids shielding, and simply pierce through it like it was butter. The energy beam delivered no explosions, for the beam only instantly atomized hundreds of Reapers and asteroids. However, the beam also hit the planet behind the Reapers, Jupiter took the brunt of the hit, as the direct energy zipped through the gas giant's atmosphere and utterly melted away parts of the metallic Hydrogen core. For The Embrace of Shelter did not fire at the highest intensity, or it would simply atomized the entirety of the Reaper formation as well as the planet behind it.

One single shot from the Fortress vessel decimated nearly 60 percent of the Reaper formation. The Reapers, now witnessed the total destructive power of the Forerunners, simply disengaged and retreated back to the relay.

"Didact, overall battle complete. All Reaper forces either destroyed or retreated. No Forerunner casualties and humans suffered only minor damage." Offensive Bias reported.

"Tell the humans to hasten their efforts. For the Reapers will return in greater forces, for this is only the beginning."

"Understood Didact."

"Endurance… tell Chant to Green that she is welcomed to come aboard."

"Yes Didact."

There is much to discuss for the matters at hand. The Didact sighed, for the survival of the Forerunners, and this galaxy, rests in his own hands.

* * *

Illusive

The Illusive Man sat quietly in his chair, alone in his office. At the side of his chair are a glass and a stick. The glass is a glass of a 1899 treasured Scotch whiskey, and the stick is a Montecristo cigar. Thanks to his internal contract within Earth, the Illusive Man receives yearly shipments of these treasures.

The Illusive Man puffed the cigar in his mouth, and a stream of thick white smoke is released into the Illusive Man office.

"Replay the whole thing… again." The Illusive Man spoke quietly.

The panel before the Illusive Man replayed the video. The video showed monstrous warships of entirely different design firing energy weapons to Reaper formation. These warships are grey in color outlined by vines like authentic blue energies. Then the warships suddenly formed and jumped into a blue disk, and then the warships are no more.

The Captain of the SSV Athens forwarded this video to the Illusive Man. The Captain is one of the few infiltrated Cerberus operatives that still had a connection to Cerberus network. For the recent efforts of the System Alliance Intelligence Corps had reduced large portions of Cerberus networks and contacts in the System Alliance.

However, that matters not to the Illusive Man. Right now Humanity is facing an extinction event from the Reapers, and Cerberus can definitely come in and use this opportunity to grow in size and strength. While the System Alliance is pinned down by the Reapers, Cerberus can have the time and resources to do research on the Reapers. The Illusive Man only frowned that his plans must be altered, for everything is interrupted by this newcomer race.

What do they call themselves? Forerunners? Such a godly name for a species, and perhaps it fit with the context, as these Forerunners are capable of systematically obliterating Reaper forces like child's play.

No… now Humanity needs the Forerunners, perhaps more than ever. For Humanity's dominance in the future, just Reaper technology won't be enough. If Cerberus can have a hand on those Forerunner technologies, then the dominance of Humanity would be secured for Millennia to come.

The Illusive Man's thought was suddenly interrupted by a communication channel, for it was Dr. Eva Core.

"Eva, how is the mission."

"We've successfully infiltrated the Mars Archive, there are just a few Alliance personnel left, and everything is going according to plan."

"Good, good, secure any data you can about the Prothean device. These archives will be the first step to bring Humanity to ascend beyond greatness."

"Yes, it will be done immediately."

The transmission then turned to static, and the Illusive Man returned back to his original thought. These Forerunners… changed everything.

* * *

Chant

"Didact, I'm grateful that you've summoned me back."

"There aren't that much time, speak what you need."

"Didact, I need you to speak in truth now, why are you so eager to join this Humanity to fight against these Reapers?"

"The Mantle Shelters All."

"We both know this is not the real answer."

The Didact then muted the external broadcasting system of his armor, with Chant to Green doing the same. Now the conversation is conversed only by the sync of personal ancillas.

"Chant to Green, I thought you would understand."

"Understand what, that the Forerunners are facing a possible extinction event?"

"No, this is the greater good for the Forerunners."

"You, Didact, having absolute power over the entire Ecumene, and now conflicted with forces that are significantly larger than us; I don't see this beneficiary for the Forerunners."

"Chant, for I am only ensuring the survival of the Forerunners."

"But why are we engaging…these Reapers? Why can't we continue our great journey? These Reapers are greater in numbers, even with our superior weaponry, we can't defeat them. Also, didn't our meddling with our own galaxy already told us that we should not meddle the natural cycle?"

"Chant, do you truly believe that our own exile is any beneficiary for the Forerunners?"

"At least we won't cause a repeat of our mistake."

"No. We are Forerunners, and despite of all our technology, we still need to live. Do you remember what the Librarian send us during the last minute of the firing of the halos?"

"You meant the Domain?"

"Yes… the Halos destroyed the Domain, and we lost all of our culture, history and heritage. The Forerunners now is just an empty shell of its past, I aim to rebuilt."

"However, we must no-"

"No. 100,000 years of Atonement are enough. In the past 100,000 years, we gained nothing. It is time now that the Forerunners restart its way of life. I want the Forerunners to be part of this galaxy, to build a unified galaxy outside of any Precursor influences. Isn't this a better redemption for our atrocity?"

"But Didact how will we even survive against the Reapers?"

"For that is my responsibility. I need you to keep the Ecumene Council at bay."

"So… the Mantle, is it just an excuse for you?"

"Do you remember what the Librarian said? About the Mantle and its truth?"

"I do remember, the information sent by the Librarian is indeed precious."

"The Mantle is a lie. The Mantle was the reason of our downfall. The Guardianship to protect all life would simply lead to one apex race having absolute power. That is what happened to us, disallowing any kind of progress to maintain our status as the Guardians of the Mantle."

"But aren't you doing the same now?"

"No Chant, we are not fighting the Reapers to protect the lives of the Humans, that was merely a maneuver to gain their trust. We fight the Reapers to pave a future for the Forerunners."

"Didact, I understand your motives, I understand your concerns. However, I cannot let you continue this path. Our impact will be too great for this galaxy to handle."

"Give me a chance. Help me. This is for the greater good of the Forerunners."

"No, this will hunt us in the end. A way of life built on the foundation of lie. What will happen when all of the Council discovered that the Mantle is a lie? Our already empty shell will simply crumble to dust."

"Chant! Would you rather have all of us continue our useless exile, or would you want to see a Forerunner civilization flourished and rich? Let the Council to know the truth about the Mantle will be my responsibility and my responsibility alone. I would rather sacrifice myself for the greater good of Forerunners. You know what I will do, and so I only ask you one thing, keep the Council at bay. Please."

Chant to Green could only sigh, for she knew that the Didact is perhaps the most stubborn Forerunner ever existed. "Didact, I will do mine part. In the meantime, good luck."

Chant to Green teleported herself back to the life workers ship.

The Didact looked out the Bridge of the Guilt of Consequences, and then he teleported himself to the war room.

* * *

Please leave a review!


	6. Erde Tyrene

Author's note: First of all , I would like to thank everyone for their reviews, and patience. I did well on my finals and I did well on my Fencing competition! (I am currently ranked 48 in the nation Woohoo!)

However, I was slow with the writing because I had a lot of SAT preparations. I try my best to write a little every day, now and then. Anyway, I would like to thank everyone for their patience. Enjoy the story~

* * *

Way

The Didact sighed, lightly, in front of the different Holograms. The Ecumene Council had called an emergency session right after the Reapers had struck.

'The worst timing, indeed.' The Didact thought to himself.

"The Ecumene Council is now in Emergency Hearing. Iso-Didact you are now recognized."

"Ecumene Council, the Reapers had caused another violent contact, not just to the Forerunners, but to Humanity as well." The Didact's voice echoed to all members of the Council.

The Didact paused for a second, before resuming, "The Reapers will come back, and we must give them no quarter. I hence by request the Ecumene Council to declare war upon the Reapers, and get ready to full readiness to face the incoming threat."

"Aya!" The Holographic form of the Ecumene Council roared, in support for the Didact's decision.

Meanwhile, the Builder rates remained silent, and then their leader, the Master Builder Constructor of Stars stood up and replied to the Didact.

"Why should we intervene?! Didact, why you are willing to put the lives of the Forerunners after the Humans? The Humans are not worth Forerunner lives!"

Immediately the Builder rates rallied behind the Master Builder, and thunderous applause from different Builder rates.

"The Mantle Shelters All." Was the response the Didact gave to the Master Builder, "The Reapers are a threat to all organic life forms, Forerunners or not. We will fight the Reapers regardless."

"Didact, what are your justifications that the Reapers are a threat to us? As we can see so far, we only suffered minor casualties while causing extensive damage to Reaper forces. Our ships are faster than the Reapers, and we can outrun them. We shouldn't have to fight them."

The Didact pressed on to his reply, "The Reapers have a significant numerical advantage. The Reapers will fight us in a war of attrition until the last organic specie is dead."

"But we don't have to fight them."

"No, but the Reapers threatens all organic life forms. The Mantle dictates that we resume our role as the guardian of the galaxy, ours or not. It is time for the Forerunners to rise again."

"Aya!" Roared the rest of the Ecumene Council. Ever since Faber's abuse of power, the Builder's rate had lost its prestigious political power among the rest of the Ecumene Council.

"Didact, we followed the Mantle before, and we failed. What are your justifications that we, the Forerunners, are capable of retain our title as guardian of all life?"

The Didact roared in reply to the Master Builder.

"Master Builder, we've failed our duty as guardian for all life forms before. This is our redemption for our past failures. We Forerunners were so blind and ignorant of our beliefs in the Mantle that it caused only stagnation. This time, the Forerunners will seek to co-exist with all organic species. The Mantle of Responsibility is not about changing the galaxy to suit Forerunner supremacy, but to leave as it is to ensure biodiversity. The Flood threatened the biodiversity of all life forms, and we drove them back. The same is with the Reapers, and again, we Forerunners, will take on the role to ensure the survival of the galaxy."

There was a moment of silence before the thunderous applause kicked in. Forerunners of different rate roared and clapped in support to the Didact. The mentions of the Mantle of Responsibility had washed away the bitterness of 100,000 years of atonement. The Master Builder remained in silence as an acknowledgement of his defeat to the Iso-Didact.

The Iso Didact looked around the Ecumene Council holograms, and only Chant to Green was the one that remained emotionless.

"Then is seems we have a verdict: the Ecumene will declare official war to the Reapers." Master Judicial remarked after the applause died down. "Didact, do you have any more to offer us?"

"Ecumene Council, the Forerunner fleets, though technological superior, lacked significant numbers. Thus I insist that we work together with the organic races in this galaxy in our campaign against the Reapers."

"Aya" Roared in support to the Iso-Didact.

"Very well. The Ecumene will draft the declaration of war soon; meanwhile all Forerunners are expected to support the war effort. I repeat again, All Forerunners." The Master Judicial eyed the Builder rates, and was only eyed back from the Master Builder.

"The Builder rates will support the Didact and the Warrior Servant Rates for this war." The Master Builder yelled.

"The Life Workers are willing to assist as well." Chant to Green, representing the Life Workers, followed suite.

"The Miners will start mining operations as soon as possible." And finally, the Head Miner spoke to all of the Ecumene Council.

"Very well, the Ecumene session is now adjourned." It is the final verdict from the Master Judicial.

* * *

War Returns

"Didact, more Reapers had returned. Initial Scans indicates 2000 Reaper Capital ships, 4000 Reaper Destroyers and 4000 Unknown Reaper models, most likely to be transportation assets." Offensive Bias stated to the Didact in a monotone manner.

The Reaper fleet consists of 6000 Reaper ships plus 4000 supports against 65 Forerunner warships. Around a ratio of 60 to 1, the situation seemed a bit helpless. Of course, the Forerunner advantage in defensive and offensive capabilities can ensure that the Forerunner will dish out considerable damage, but that doesn't stop the Didact from worrying that the Reapers will just worn out the Forerunners through sheer attrition.

"Didact the Reaper forces are jumping into Faster Than Light, my own calculations suggest that the Reaper forces will land at our flanks and encircle out forces and eliminate us through attrition." The hundred thousand years old ancilla suggested to the Didact. The ancilla holographic hard shell floats steadily next to the Didact.

"Have all civilian ships, carriers and harriers to hide behind that moon. All Fortress class are to stay in place, I want all Dreadnoughts to sling around Erde Tyrene and come back in precisely 2 minutes." The Didact shouted.

"Understood Didact" Offensive Bias relayed these commands to all of the Forerunner ships.

"Endurance! Activate hard light barrier generators, form the protective sphere."

"Didact, the hard light protective sphere is still a prototype; it is not at full strength capacity."

"Let it be Endurance, activate the hard light shields."

"It is done." Was the firm reply of the Didact's second in command.

It is then with a deep hum that the hard light generators started to activate, and suddenly four different hard light streams shot out of the Guilt of Consequences. The streams of hard light then started to expand, and form a sphere of hard light, encasing the four Fortress Class vessels and the Guilt of Consequence. Hundreds of years of research in hard light technology had finally paid off in the crucial moment.

As expected, the Reapers came in full force around the Forerunner forces. The Reapers had separated to three different groups: 100 Capital ships, 200 destroyers and 4000 troop transport were sent to Earth, 900 Capital ships and 2000 destroyers on the Forerunner left flank, and 1000 Capital ships and 1800 destroyers on the right flank of the Forerunner forces.

The System Alliance navy, all orbiting above Earth, immediately engaged the Reaper task force. A total of 300 Alliance ships engaged with the 300 Reaper warships, for the Didact can only watch as the Alliance navy was smashed by the ruthless Reapers into debris and wreckage.

The Reapers forces flanking the Forerunners gave no thoughts to swarm The Forerunner Forces. Instead the Reapers released fighters and opened fire on the static Forerunner formation. In a single moment, hundreds of thousands of red beams streamed across space and splattered on the blue hard light. The hard light simply absorbed and shrugged off the attacks by the Reapers. The Reapers, however, continued their barrage, determined to take out the Forerunners by sheer attrition of fire power.

"Didact! Hard light composition at strength of 85 percent." Endurance of Eternal Suns shouted on the bridge of the Guilt of Consequences, "The hard light generators were still in partial power after the last incident."

It is, however, in that moment, the 28 Dreadnoughts sling shot back from Earth's orbit. The 28 Dreadnoughts pierced through the exposed left flank of the Reaper forces with supreme firepower, instantly decimating nearly one hundred Reapers. However, the Reapers respond with full force as well, a concentration of 1000 different Reapers engaged in close combat with the Forerunner Dreadnoughts. The sheer amount of the Reapers allows the Reapers to take staggering losses and keep going forward and engage the Forerunner forces. Thousands of different shots of molten iron, tungsten and uranium impacted on the lone Forerunner Dreadnoughts. The Dreadnoughts replied with full barrage of hard light and high intensity energy weaponry, decimating tens of Reapers vessels.

"Didact, hard light generator unable to function properly on current stress, hard light barriers had depleted to 50 percent strength." Endurance relayed the message to the Iso-Didact.

"What is the situation on human evacuation?" The Didact asked.

"Recent Human reports had indicated secondary evacuation were complete a few minutes ago. Tertiary evacuation had started, however Reaper presence had caused significant casualties to humans on the ground. Currently the Reapers presence on Erde Tyrene had caused heavy damage to local human population and infrastructure."

The Didact thought for a few seconds, and then relayed his orders to all Forerunner ships, "All Forerunner Naval vessels are to move towards the sun, all units are to draw the Reapers forces away from Erde Tyrene. Offensive bias, lead the cloaked Harriers to Erde Tyrene and eliminate as many Reaper assets as possible. Destroy the Reapers through orbital bombardment, but ensure minimum collateral damage."

The Guilt of Consequence dropped its hard light protective shell and started to accelerate towards the sun, and the Fortress and Dreadnought followed through. The Reapers immediately thought the Forerunners were trying to flee and continued their combined assault on the Forerunner navy.

"Didact, all current vessels are reporting shields depletion from the Reapers." Endurance relayed to the Didact.

"No matter, ensure the Reapers are still pursuing us. Make different openings in the fleet formation to draw in more Reaper forces. We need to buy Offensive Bias's Harriers the most optimum opportunity."

"Didact, we are risking our own fleets. "The tone of Endurance shows deep concern from the Didact's second in command.

"Endurance you know as well as I do that we can take the punishment from the Reapers, but the Humans cannot. Have all Dreadnoughts to form around the Guilt of Consequence while having the Fortress to fire at elevated positions over the Reapers."

"Yes Didact."

The Forerunner fleet immediately adjusted its positions and counter acted against the Reaper fleet. The Dreadnoughts formed a protective layer around the Guilt of Consequence, while the Fortress class vessels positioned above the existing Reapers. Hard light and energy streak across the void of space.

"Didact, incoming transmission from the humans!" Endurance roared.

"Let it through."

Immediately, the picture of the pitch blue Admiral Hackett formed in front of the Didact. The Admiral let go of any formality and went straight to the point with the Didact.

"Didact, this is Admiral Hackett. My ships are getting torn apart and we are going to retreat to the relay. However, one of our admirals is still on the ground, in the location of London. The SR2 Normandy was supposed to pick Admiral Anderson up, but it was shot down by Reaper forces. Therefore, I'm requesting Forerunner assistance to recover both Admiral Anderson and remains of the SR2 Normandy and her crew from London."

The baritone voice and lack of hesitation were all the evidence needed to tell the Didact that Admiral Anderson is quite an important figure, along with Normandy and her crews.

"Admiral Hackett, worry not, the Forerunners will recover this Admiral Anderson. Just send us the location and we will be in route." The Didact replied.

"Thank you Didact. We will rendezvous in the following coordinates. Good luck."

The transmission ended.

"Endurance, forward and relay this message to Offensive Bias and everyone. Offensive Bias will know what to do."

"Yes Didact."

The Didact resumed his role of commanding the remaining Forerunner fleet. "All ships, fire at will and keep those Reapers at bay. We must give Offensive Bias time to extract the humans."

The Didact only watched as the Reaper and Forerunner fleets begun to tangle in one of each other.

* * *

Downpour

"Shit…"

Shepard opened his eyes and looked at his hand above his face. Around him are sparkles and guns. It took tremendous effort for Shepard to get on his feet, only for Shepard to find himself in the commanding deck of the Normandy.

"Shit, Joker! Joker!" Were the first few words out of Shepard.

"I hear you commander, I'm fine."

A sigh of relief for Shepard, "What the hell happened Joker?"

"Shepard we got shot down by the Reapers. Simple." There are blood on the face of Joker, along with the blood on control panel of the Normandy.

"How? Shouldn't our Reaper IFF protect us from Reaper forces for a brief time?"

It was then the ship itself talked to Shepard.

"No, the Normandy wasn't shot down directly by the Reapers. Instead, it was one of our escort Frigate that was destroyed. However, when the escort Frigate combusted it sent multiple shrapnel to the Normandy. One of the shrapnel penetrated the kinetic barrier and disrupted one of the engines. When entering atmosphere, the already weakened engine exploded and send us down to the ground."

"Good to see that you are still here EDI. Damn, EDI, how many survivors on this ship?"

"Most of the ship's crew remained unharmed with a few exceptions; the security details onboard the Normandy are all killed by the crash, and half of the personnel on the commanding deck." The monotone voice of EDI reflects no emotion.

"EDI, give me a situation update."

"All engines are down. Kinect barriers and mass effect field failure. Primary reactor is offline but secondary reactor is still online."

"We are supposed to extract Admiral Anderson, how the hell are we supposed to do that?"

It was then Major Alenko and some of the Alliance marines reached the Commanding deck.

"Shepard! Are you alright?"

"Major, I am fine. How is the rest of the crew?"

"Shepard I hate to say this but everyone is a little bit buzzed. We got a handful of casualties and some dead. It's a bad place to be here right now."

"Major you are right. With a ship or not, our priority is still get Admiral Anderson to safety, whatever the situation. We will have to abandon ship and get to Admiral Anderson by foot." Shepard proclaimed.

However, EDI was quick to reply. "That may not be necessary Shepard. Admiral Anderson and some Alliance personnel had just arrived outside the Normandy."

"EDI, are there any Reapers around our position? We cannot risk getting killed here on spot."

"No in the proximity Shepard. No significant Reaper forces nearby."

"Alright people, let's get Anderson onboard. Kaidan, you get as many men you need to secure a perimeter around the Normandy. Make sure you all stay low and try not to get spotted by Reaper forces. Everyone let's move."

"Yes sir." The crews of the Normandy all shouted.

A few minutes later Shepard and his crew exit the SR2 Normandy. What stands in front of Shepard's eyes is the former self of Earth. Earth, homeworld for humanity, is now an utter nightmare. Hundreds of Reapers everywhere, knocking down different skyscrapers and any aerial vehicles, and spreading thousands of different husks to the surface of Earth. Bits by bits, more humans are either killed or turned into husks. Scattered Alliance forces fought bravely to keep the Reapers at bay, but the Reapers proved to be too much. One by one, the scattered pockets of Alliance forces are either wiped out or swarmed, leaving no survivors. Smoke and fire filled the ground and sky, in a distance, Shepard sees a young child, crying, only to be crushed beneath the feet of a husk.

"Shepard! Are you alright?" Anderson quickly interrupted Shepard's gaze. "I saw the Normandy coming down and I was worried that you wouldn't survive the crash. I just organized a rough platoon of Alliance forces to come and check the Normandy out." Anderson is covered by multiple patches of ash and debris on his blaze blue uniform. Different gashes of wounds and blood are everywhere on the face of the old soldier.

"I'm fine Anderson, but some did not make it." Shepard said with a heavy heart.

"Damn… soon the Reapers will take over Earth and this will be the fate for billions of people."

"Anderson, I was ordered by Hackett to get you out from Earth, but at this situation, I guess we are going to be stuck on Earth."

"So it seems. Come on let's get back inside the Normandy, it's better than staying here."

"Agreed."

Once Shepard and Anderson entered the Normandy, EDI's voice ringed above them. "Shepard, priority QEC from Admiral Hackett."

"Thank you EDI. Come on Anderson, let's get to the QEC room."

The second the duo entered the QEC room, Admiral Hackett's blue image flicker into life. "Gentlemen it is good to see you again. Shepard and Anderson, I want a situation report right now."

Shepard was first to talk. "Admiral, the Normandy crashed landed during our re-entry to atmosphere. Engines, Primary Reactor, Kinetic Barriers and Mass Effect fields are all currently offline. We suffered around 10 injuries and 12 casualties. The Normandy currently cannot continue its mission."

Anderson was next to speak, "Admiral, primary and secondary evacuation are all complete. However when the Reapers landed on forces all evacuation shuttles are either shot down or destroyed. The Reaper achieved both aerial and orbital supremacy. We are losing a lot of good men down here Admiral."

"Thank you gentlemen. Anderson I need to get you out of Earth now, so I've requested Forerunner assistance."

Before Hackett finished, Anderson interrupted, "Admiral, should we really trust the Forerunners? They appeared out of nowhere out of convenience and we know basically nothing about them."

Hackett replied immediately, "Anderson we all share the same amount of doubt, but right now we don't have a chance. The Forerunners have superiority in basically everything compare to the Reapers, if we are to survive this struggle against the Reapers, we will need the Forerunners." Hackett's tone indicates a supreme authority.

Both Shepard and Anderson saluted together, "Yes Admiral."

"Anyway, Shepard I got something for you. Your friend Doctor T'soni had just sent a message regarding our Prothean Archive on Mars. Once you get out of Earth head to Mars and check it out. The fleet had suffered extensive damage and casualties, and all remaining vessels are rendezvousing roughly at these coordinates."

It was then EDI interrupted the QEC, "Shepard, proximity alert, and multiple Reapers inbound varying different classes."

Hackett was first to reply, "Shepard, get Anderson to safety no matter the cost. The Forerunners will contact you and provide the Evac. Hackett out."

And that was when the Reapers roared a chilling sound to everyone in the Normandy.

This is how the world ends.

* * *

Log

Forerunner Ancilla Contender-Class Offensive Bias looked at the situation in his hand: A total of 30 Harriers and 2 Carriers in his disposal against thousands of Reapers occupying Erde Tyrene. Another uneven ratio against his forces, but numbers never bothered the calculating Ancilla. For Offensive Bias, he had only one task: To evacuate top priority humans from the surface of this dying world. The only challenge of this mission will be the Reapers that equally want these humans eliminated.

Offensive Bias's small fleet strode from the moon to Erde Tyrene in less than a minute. The active stealth camouflage ensued that none of the Forerunner Vessels were detected by the Reapers.

Offensive Bias located the humans, John Shepard and David Anderson, through the ashes and smokes from the surface of Erde Tyrene. A total of 6 Reaper Capital ships, 9 Reaper Destroyers and thousands of Reaper ground forces encircling the human's position, and hundreds of Reaper vessels in orbit.

The operation was ordered by the Iso-Didact himself, thus there is no option for failure. Offensive Bias released his fleet formation into a spear. The 30 Harriers along with hundreds of Forerunner Despair-Cass Fighters flew in the forefront, while the Carriers slip to the near proximity of the human's position.

Offensive Bias sent a final message to the Didact. "Didact, the plan is in motion; rendezvous in conjunction will be calculated." The message instantly reached the ears of the Didact.

"Old friend, do whatever it takes."

The Operation had received its introduction.

The Harriers and Despair-Cass Fighters disabled its cloak and fired upon the orbiting Reaper fleet. Hundreds of brilliant blue energy beams slashed through space and found its target. The idle Reaper fleet didn't even stand a chance. In less than a minute almost half of the orbiting fleet is evaporated into molten debris. The reaming Reapers immediately organized a counter attack against Forerunner fleet. Lances of blue and red trade off at each other, and both sides received different casualties. The Forerunner fighters, though powerful, sleek and versatile, are still vulnerable to the Reaper weaponry. Tens of unlucky Forerunner fighters were decimated by the molten jets of iron, tungsten and uranium. The Harriers fared better, as its advance shielding allowed itself to shrug off the Reaper attacks. The Reapers immediately organized nearby units to reinforce the battered forces.

Under the cover of the intense battle above Erde Tyrene, the two Carriers slipped away to the atmosphere above the city that contained the priority humans. The superb cloaking device allowed the Carriers to slip through Reaper controlled space without any trace. Upon arriving, four monstrous luggages were dropped to the surface of Erde. The four luggages will be the surprise for the Reapers, for the luggages are the Devastator-Class Sentinels.

The history of the Devastator-Class Sentinel dates back in the Human-Forerunner conflict. War Sphinx was the primary ground assault vehicle for the Forerunners. Each War Sphinx is capable of wiping out entire cities and decimating multiple human assault groups. However as the war dragged on, the War Sphinx's effectiveness dwindled. Humanity's newly developed countermeasures at close range had inflicted massive casualties to the War Sphinx Corps. Perhaps the heaviest casualties were the death of all of the original Didact's children inside their War Sphinx. The death of all of the Didact's children caused the Forerunner to review a replacement for the War Sphinx, and thus the Devastator-Class Sentinel was born. The Devastator-Class, a Sentinel, eliminates any possibility of Forerunner casualties even if it is utterly destroyed. The Devastator-Class Sentinel has powerful gravitational repulsion devices that allow it to fly freely. The primary armament consists of a prime energy laser that has the capability to level entire continents. The secondary armament composes of hundreds of Slipspace Missiles. The Slipspace Missile essentially creates an unstable Slipspace portal when it reaches its initial target. The stress on the target caused by the unstable Slipspace rupture will instantly tear apart any material. The Slipspace Missile was developed after the Forerunner-Flood war as a close range weapons against a numerically superior enemy. Finally, the tertiary armament includes hundreds of direct energy turrets that can channel its power to deliver a more powerful blow. In retrospect, the Devastator-Class Sentinel is a monstrous killing machine that can destroy and eliminate any kind of resistance. The Devastator-Class Sentinel was utilized extensively during the Forerunner-Flood war, as it is used to cleanse any infested Forerunner cities and large aggressive Flood forces.

The luggages hit the outskirts of London and instantly created large storms of dusts and debris. When the dusts and debris fell back to the ground, the four luggages transform into the monstrous killing machine. Levitating at 1 Kilometer tall and 2 Kilometer wide, the Devastator-Class Sentinels are jet black and sleek as a shark.

Offensive Bias immediately assumed direct control of the Sentinels, for it is time for Offensive Bias to demonstrate his own capabilities. Offensive Bias analyzed his situation, for 6 Reaper Capital ships and 9 Reaper Destroyers lay 12 Kilometers away from the Sentinels' position. Other Reaper reinforcements are all at least 30 Kilometers and more away from the current Sentinel position. The 6 Reaper Capital ships and 9 Reaper Destroyers ahead had just noticed the Sentinels and decided to form a defensive position and observe the Sentinels.

Normally a commander would say that these Reapers are making a grave mistake to stay defensive against the Devastator-Class Sentinels. However, Offensive Bias, being an Ancilla, doesn't spare any time for personal comments.

The Sentinels warmed up its weapons with a deep hum, and a few seconds later, four streaks of blue lances race towards the metropolitan London. Four lances of pure energy instantly pierced four Reaper Capital ships. The four unlucky Reaper Capital ships immediately transformed to four enormous explosions. The shock wave of the explosion instantly shattered all of the skyscraper's glass in a radius of 1 Kilometer.

The remaining Reapers immediately returned fire to the four Sentinels. 11 streams of red hot iron, tungsten and uranium splashed on the Sentinels. Normally a single shot from the Reapers would cripple any organic machinery, but the Forerunner advance shielding technology completely negates the firepower of the Reapers. The red molten elements hit, splashed and spilled to the ground upon touching the Sentinels. Immediately after the Reapers fired back, the Sentinels released its awesome arsenal of Slipspace Missiles to bear on the remaining Reaper forces. The remaining Reapers immediately utilized its Gamma laser systems to pick off the hundreds of missiles. However, the effort of the Reapers proved to be in vain as a large portion of missiles poured through the Reaper defense. To the Reaper surprise, the missiles didn't explode on contact. Instead, a small orb appeared from the missile itself. To the Reapers even bigger surprise, the orb immediately expands exponentially then collapsed, instantly tearing apart the Reaper itself to multiple different pieces. It was a quick and painless death for all the remaining Reapers.

Offensive Bias analyzed the situation, for now the metropolitan area is cleared of any Reaper vessels. However, that situation will not stay long as tens of Reapers are regrouping at the outskirt of the city. Zooming in from one of the Sentinel's camera, Offensive Bias observed that the humans are getting overrun by Reaper ground forces. One signal to the Carriers above orbit, hundreds of Forerunner Warriors were released to the surface of Erde Tyrene.

The Epsilon Company of the Omega Division pierced through Erde Tyrone's atmosphere in terminal velocity. The entire Company then activated its gravitational repulsion device to slow them down. Upon reaching the surface, Epsilon Company regrouped and headed towards to extract the priority humans.

Offensive Bias artificially sneered at scene in space, for 30 Harriers and hundreds of fighters are destroying a fleet of hundreds of Reaper ships. In this coming bloody war against the numerically superior Reapers, Forerunner technological supremacy will perhaps be the only salvation for all organics. For now, Offensive Bias removed his control of the Sentinels, for the commander of Epsilon Company will control the situation. The Operation has finally reached it final phase.

* * *

Leaving Earth

Admiral David Anderson had experience many things throughout his life, from the harsh training of the N7 program, to the ruthless first contact war, to the cruel table of galactic politics, everything he experienced had made him into what Hackett would call him "steel reserve." However, today is one of rare exceptions that left Anderson jaw gaping. The awesome power of the Forerunner military had certainly caught the aging Admiral off guard.

A few moments ago Anderson was just directing remaining Alliance forces around the SR2 Normandy against overwhelming Reaper ground forces.

"Major! Get your men to the right flank and suppress those husk! The husk is trying to encircle us from the right." Just then a husk jumped in front of Anderson, only to met by a hail of bullets from Anderson's M-8 Avengers.

"Anderson! Watch out to your left!" Shepard shouted from on top his lungs.

Anderson immediately ducked down to avoid a husk jump, for the N7 training hasn't washed away yet. Simultaneously, Anderson blasted 3 shots from his Avenger to the husk's body, and blue liquid spilled from the husk's corpse.

*BUUUUUUAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH* One of the Reaper destroyers suddenly screeched, and it grabbed Anderson's attention. The Destroyer's front canopy opened and its red glaring eye is right in front of Anderson.

"Holy shit, everyone take cover!" Was the only thing Anderson could think of, and he shouted with all of his lung power. Immediately all personnel took cover behind anything they can find, but deep down everyone knows that these cover won't do them any good.

To Anderson's surprise, the Reapers didn't fire; instead it stood at its ground and focused its lens to something else.

Before Anderson could turn his head to see what the Reapers is looking at, four streaks of blue suddenly impacted four Reapers. Anderson immediately ducked down for cover, but it was too late already.

Four massive fireballs exploded inside London, and the shock wave sent Anderson to the ground, gasping for air. The shock wave also shattered all the glass near the Reaper proximity, sending glass shrapnel to everywhere.

Anderson stood up and finally caught a glimpse of the monsters that fired those blue lances of death. Four sleek black machines floating near the outskirts of London, each machine has a vertical central body with four arms attached to it. The machines appearance gives Anderson a chill to his spine, "My dear god…"

Not just Anderson, but practically everyone, including Shepard, are in shock as well. Seeing such awesome power in live action is a completely new experience for everyone, and not even Humanity's greatest hero could process the information in front of his eyes.

Anderson and the rest of the Alliance personnel could only watch as the unknown machinery absorbed the Reaper's counter attack. Red jets of Magnetohydrodynamic weapon raced towards the unknown machinery, only to be stopped in motion by a flaring blue shield. Then in a synchronized action, the four machines released hundreds of missiles. The missiles traveled at speed almost too fast for the missile that size. Most of the payload landed on the intended target, and instantly hundreds of blue ruptures occurred on the surface of the Reapers. The ruptures systematically ripped the Reapers to thousands of pieces, while some part of the Reapers just simply disappeared into nothing.

Everything was suddenly so much quieter, for the menacing sounds of the Reapers are no more. All of husks suddenly stopped its motion as if it had lost its motor function, standing idle in different clusters.

The shock just doesn't end there for Anderson. Suddenly hundreds of armor clad warriors rained down from the sky and landed right next to the Normandy. Each warrior wears a dullish gray armor with a polarized gold armor, and it instantly expressed itself to Anderson, "Forerunner forces."

The hundreds of Forerunner warriors immediately went into action to eliminate any hostile Reaper forces. Anderson could only watch in as the Forerunners deliver the killing blow to hundreds of husks in a professional and ruthless measure. Blue blades and gold guns burst into life, with each shot or slash is a dead husk falling to the ground. The whole scene of securing the area around the SR2 Normandy took the Forerunners less than a minute.

Everyone was still too shocked to move and simply stared at the Forerunner personnel. Meanwhile one of the Warriors approached Anderson and spoke with perfect English with an American accent.

"Admiral Anderson, Sharp Eye for Honor, commanding officer of Epsilon Company of the Omega Division. We've been tasked to extract you and other personnel from Erde Tyrene, or as you call it , Earth, immediately."

Anderson quickly responded, "Admiral David Anderson, Alliance navy. I appreciate for your men's effort, but how are we going to be extracted?"

"We will call down the Carriers to lift all of you back to the Carriers, where you will be safe."

It was then a human voice ringed among the group of Forerunners, a familiar voice to Anderson.

"Hold on wait a minute you guys are telling me that you guys will just evacuate us? What about the billions of people out here? What about my ship? What about her, EDI?!" It was Joker.

Sharp Eye for Honor immediately walked over to Joker, "Is this ship so important to you?"

"Hell yeah armor guy, and plus this ship harbor one of the most precious resources for this galaxy, EDI." Joker answer in full seriousness.

"Then it is done." The Forerunner said simply.

"What? How? What are you talking about?" Joker shouted.

Before Shepard or Anderson could intervene, a large ship suddenly appeared right on top of them.

"What the hell…" Uttered Shepard in a low voice, a voice so low that most people won't be able to pick up, but years of training never let Anderson down.

A fine light started to glow around the Normandy, and gently the Normandy is lifted off the ground into the hanger of the gigantic ship. Anderson though he was dreaming, this is almost like from one of the older science fiction movie Star Wars where the little green guy lifted a ship out of a swamp.

"Admiral, please step inside." Sharp Eye for Honor said simply to Anderson.

It was then Anderson caught a glimpse of a Kodiak shuttle headed to the burning center of London. A Kodiak full of soldiers, Alliance soldiers…

It was then Anderson made his ultimate decision, to stay behind on Earth. Here, Earth, where he called home for his whole life. Earth needs him now more than ever, and he won't leave it behind.

"No, I can't. You see those soldiers and civilians here on Earth. They will need a leader to lead them against the Reapers. I'm going to stay here, on Earth, loud and simple." Anderson said in defiant.

Shepard was first to reply, "Anderson, we need you. Alliance needs your leadership more than ever, come on."

"No. Shepard you think I don't want to get out of here and reorganize the rest of the Alliance forces? I want to do that, but right now, that isn't the right choice. Tell Hackett that I'm staying here on Earth, and I will hold Earth for all of you."

"Anderson! No men left behind, I can't leave you!" Shepard shouted.

"Shepard, we can't win this war alone, not even with the Forerunners. Go there, talk to the Council, and convince them to send reinforcement to retake Earth. Unite the galaxy and face the Reapers!" Anderson shouted back to Shepard.

"Anderson… I can't."

"That's an order Shepard."

Shepard pulled himself together and snapped a salute and signal everyone to get into the blinding light of the Forerunner ship.

"Admiral, my order still stands, to ensure the survival of you. My men and I will fight alongside you in Erde Tyrene." The Forerunner commander, who was quiet the whole time, suddenly opened his mouth to Anderson.

"I'm grateful, but this isn't necessary, commander." Anderson replied.

However, the Forerunner commander didn't even notice Anderson's words, for he had signaled a platoon of his men to escort Anderson to safety while the remaining humans and Forerunners are lifted to the under belly of the Forerunner Carrier.

Anderson could only look as the Carrier engages its cloak and disappeared. The four monstrous machines also flowed away from the Earth's surface to space.

All that is left is Sharp Eye for Honor and his platoon of men, alongside with distant sounds of fire, explosions and cries.

Anderson grabbed his M-8 Avengers and signaled Sharp Eye for Honor and his men to follow him, for Anderson is ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of this planet, for the sake that not just to him, but to billions of humans, a place called home.

* * *

Please vote and leave a comment regarding whether the SR2 Normandy should get an upgrade from Forerunner Technology.

Do please leave a review! Thanks.


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